Defending the tech mogul amid Tesla’s stock market plunge, Trump said he would also buy one of Musk’s electric vehicles “as a show of confidence” for the product
President Donald Trump has vowed to support Elon Musk amid ongoing boycotts and protests toward the billionaire’s Tesla company.
Just after midnight on Tuesday, March 11, Trump, 78, shared a message on his platform Truth Social, declaring that he’d be backing Musk, 53 — who leads the Department of Government Efficiency task force — by buying a Tesla. The electric vehicle company has faced major challenges since Musk branded himself as a controversial political figure.
“To Republicans, Conservatives, and all great Americans, Elon Musk is ‘putting it on the line’ in order to help our Nation, and he is doing a FANTASTIC JOB!” Trump wrote.
“But the Radical Left Lunatics, as they often do, are trying to illegally and collusively boycott Tesla, one of the World’s great automakers, and Elon’s ‘baby,’ in order to attack and do harm to Elon, and everything he stands for,” he continued in the post.
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Trump insisted, “I’m going to buy a brand new Tesla tomorrow morning as a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk, a truly great American. Why should he be punished for putting his tremendous skills to work in order to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN???”
Tesla co-founder and CEO Musk then responded on his social media platform X, “Thank you, President @realDonaldTrump!”
Trump did not specify which model he was looking to purchase.
Per CNBC, Tesla’s stock suffered its steepest drop in nearly five years on Monday, March 10. The outlet stated that the stock had plunged every week since Musk took on his powerful White House role.
Fox Business reported that Monday’s trading session marked Tesla’s largest single-day percentage decline since 2020 after it fell 15.4%. At one point in September 2020, it fell more than 21% in a day.
The outlet stated that Tesla stock had declined more than 36.6% in the past month, adding that since it “reached its all-time largest market capitalization of $1.5 trillion on Dec. 17, its stock has fallen by more than half to a new market cap of $696 billion” as of Monday.
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While commenting on a post about the stock plunge on X, Musk insisted, “It will be fine long-term.”
He also thanked fans for support by sharing a post about somebody picking up a Tesla Cybertruck, writing on X, “Heartfelt thanks to everyone supporting @Tesla, despite many attacks against our stores and offices ❤️❤️❤️.”
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Tesla has faced protests in showrooms and charging stations in multiple states including Colorado and Massachusetts recently, per the BBC. There’s also been a spike in Tesla Cybertrucks being vandalized.
Musk was selected by Trump in November to lead the government’s new cost-cutting “DOGE” task force, and the tech mogul has since been working out of an office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
The EEOB, which houses various agencies within the Executive Office of the President, is part of the White House compound and is situated directly across from the West Wing.
