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Summary

Elon Musk gave Donald Trump a scripted sales pitch during a White House event where Trump inspected Teslas.

Photographers captured Trump holding notes with phrases like “SAFEST car” and “affordable.” The stunt followed a 15% drop in Tesla’s stock, linked to backlash over Musk’s involvement in DOGE.

Trump defended Musk on Truth Social, blaming the decline on a “Radical Left” boycott.

Meanwhile, Musk’s other ventures, including X and SpaceX, are struggling with outages and test failures.

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[-] redlemace@lemmy.world 175 points 4 days ago

Only in the USA ... the president is doing product advertisement. In a democracy the president would be sent home and banned for life from any government function. How much more before the USA citizens notice something is very wrong with having him as POTUS

[-] Lemmist@lemm.ee 37 points 4 days ago

Is there any country nowadays where people can send the idiot back home without a revolution?

[-] Soup@lemmy.world 35 points 4 days ago

South Korea just did this. Lad tried to start a coup to hide from consequences and got eaten alive.

[-] superkret@feddit.org 7 points 3 days ago

Chile got rid of their dictator without a revolution, in a typically Chilean way.

Pinochet came to power in a military coup, which broke a decades-long tradition of stable democracy that was unique in South America at the time.
It was a proper bloody South American coup, including a bombardment of the presidential palace, the death of the elected sitting president, and backing from the USA, of course.
Pinochet then abolished the separation of powers, disappeared his political opponents and completely dismantled the democracy.
He also enacted neoliberal hyper-capitalist reforms and privatized everything, which is why the USA backed him.
He had a commission draft an entirely new constitution and pushed through a vote to get it approved.

But as a fig leaf of international legitimacy, there was a clause in it saying his power was transitory and must be confirmed in a referendum after 8 years.

After 8 years of brutal dictatorship, he lost the referendum and simply had to step down.

[-] criticon@lemmy.ca 5 points 3 days ago

Didn't SK just did that? They protested but it wasn't anything violent

[-] alienzx@feddit.nl 5 points 4 days ago
[-] Lemmist@lemm.ee 1 points 3 days ago

I was talking about people. You're talking about royalty being able to replace the king :)

Or maybe we have some country where people can send an idiot parliamentarian home without a revolution?

[-] alienzx@feddit.nl 3 points 3 days ago

Look up concepts like snap elections and direct democracy.

Even California has recalled governors and had special elections.

[-] OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca 6 points 3 days ago

The Premiere of our province did a quick plug for Tim Hortons breakfast sandwiches and we just elected him into his third straight majority government.

And now he's flying down to Washington to negotiate tariffs witx this guy. I'm sure it'll go great for us.

[-] Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 days ago

Sure, I remember Goya beans will enough to turn them around every time I go to the grocery store!

[-] barneypiccolo@lemm.ee 1 points 3 days ago

"But wait! There's more!"

[-] xyzzy@lemm.ee 73 points 4 days ago

Jesus, Trump is really in deep with Musk.

Also, the 15% stock drop is nothing compared to the decline in actual sales. The P/E ratio is still way too high, but the stock will drop eventually if this decline continues. Keep up the Tesla dealership protests too.

[-] IHeartBadCode@fedia.io 39 points 4 days ago

You know, set aside the boycott for a second, everyone knew Tesla was way, way, way over valued.

Like don't get me wrong, dude is a slimy rat and he's getting everything he deserves. But even way back in 2018/2019 I remember everyone saying Tesla was over priced by ten/fifteen fold.

So even ignore the whole boycott and a massive correction was bound to happen. It is so stupid Musk getting on TV and turning on crocodile tears because everyone is being mean to him. Dude, your company has been over valued for, at least as long as I remember, over half a decade.

This shit was bound to crash hard. That's how it works. Fly high, fall fast. Such a fucking bitch boy he is. Take your fucking correction just like everyone else.

[-] Tiger@sh.itjust.works 14 points 4 days ago

Yeah, it was valued at more than multiple handfuls of other car companies combined - like all other US car companies combined, for example, ridiculous. Many investors have pointed out it’s an overvalued meme stock for years, that it’s just banking on Musk pulling more rabbits out of hats.

[-] kingofras@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago

Respectfully disagree that this is a correction. To me correction implies that the stock was more or less fairly valued prior to the correction.

~not investment advice~

Elmo has hyperinflated his stock by lying repeatedly, documented for years. He has created such a massive awkward autistic echo chamber that a bunch of “the end is nigh people” began believing he’s the messiah to save us from Earth (let that sink in) and bring us to the promised glorious utopian paradise with luscious field, fertile lands and epic waterfalls… eh.. Mars. This spinning is Elmo’s only true value and why the boards of his companies put up with him.

Both Musk and Trump have this reality distortion field like Jobs had, but there’s almost nothing of substance underneath.

I don’t think this market is correcting. It may look like it for a while. The AI bubble and companies like Musk who are valued by groupies, not investors may actually really crash mush harder.

[-] rhombus@sh.itjust.works 6 points 4 days ago

It’s got me worried why. Yeah, Musk pretty much bankrolled his campaign, but is that really all takes to make a lapdog out of Trump? The man who has shown zero loyalty to anyone but himself? I guess he seems pretty loyal to Russia, but that’s a different story.

[-] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

All it takes did include him becoming richer and a "celebrity" that likely can't be prosecuted for any of his crimes for the rest of his life.

Payback all his family loans to Russian Oligarchs , done. I mean not long ago he couldn't find financers to pay his legal bills because all his properties had money owed on them. His own son had said they didn't need U.S. banks because their funding came from Russia. Cutting off enforcement of sanctions on Russian Oligarchs likely got him some of what he needed to pay off those debts, while asking Congress to get rid of them will likely clear more.

[-] Thorry84@feddit.nl 41 points 4 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

All cars have Full Self Driving. Except "Full Self Driving" is just a brand name as Tesla explained it to the judge. They are in fact SAE Level 2, which is not what a regular person would expect hearing that name. Musk has been shouting they will have level 3, 4 or even 5 this year for years now.

Other brands have Level 3 cars for sale now. But all the dumb car "tech" sites still claim Tesla is the best. But in fact it's only their marketing that's best.

[-] Strider@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

Just wait until he reaches Mars! Any day now.

[-] ceenote@lemmy.world 34 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Wait that picture was real? I thought it was a joke.

Elon's handwriting is his only good quality.

[-] Tencho@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago

I didn't expect to compliment him, but damn space hitler really does have good hand writing.

[-] NotLemming@lemm.ee 3 points 3 days ago

I was gonna say that my handwriting analysis says - moron. Are you American by any chance? English kids learn better handwriting by age 7.

[-] BeMoreCareful@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

I can't believe it. I've seen this picture like five times and assumed it was a fake.

[-] JTskulk@lemmy.world 19 points 3 days ago

Imagine if the "radical left" was actually as big and powerful as trump says it is.

[-] barneypiccolo@lemm.ee 19 points 3 days ago

Tesla stockholders should file a class action suit against Skum for tanking the stock price. Being openly sociopathic, and reveling in firing American citizens, and destroying the government from the inside has easily predictable negative consequences on the company image and sales, and as a "genius" CEO, he should have known that. He should have kept his loyalties to his own company, instead of partnering up with the loudest anti-EV voice on the planet, and helping destroy the market for EVs.

Now those Tesla stockholders are down 40%, representing millions, perhaps billions, in lost value. That equates to true, actionable damages, which are directly attributable to his reckless and negligent behavior.

[-] ploot 27 points 4 days ago

as angry customers revolt against the CEO’s involvement in a chaotic restructuring of the federal government.

That and his Nazism.

[-] vegeta@lemmy.world 22 points 4 days ago

Elmo thinks this will help sales? Maybe among MAGA, but overall, I think this would accelerate the decline. Maybe RFK jr lent him a brain worm.

[-] Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 19 points 4 days ago

I find the idea of Elon trying to pitch his cars to Trump's cult so fucking funny, because these are the exact same people who roll coal in their pickups and intentionally block electric chargers just to stick it to anyone who likes having a habitable planet. They've made hating electric cars part of their identity.

Which means there's two possible outcomes here, and both are amazing:

  1. This whole sales pitch falls dead flat against the wall of anti-environment propaganda these assholes have willingly swallowed whole. Elon continues to piss off the only people who were ever going to buy his products in order to pander to the only people who were never going to buy his products and Tesla collapses completely, taking most of Musk's fortune with it.

  2. The MAGA cult download the software update en masse and suddenly decide they love electric cars now, resulting in a massive expansion in electric vehicle use, huge amounts of additional electric vehicle infrastructure, and a withering away of traditional gas vehicle infrastructure in a change that will ultimately become very hard to reverse even after Musk inevitably falls out of Trump's favour.

There's also option 2b, which is that MAGA refuses to go electric, so Trump is forced to switch out every government car to a Tesla, which results in government departments installing huge amounts of supporting equipment to manage this new electric car fleet, to the point where switching back would become a ridiculous notion. The whole US government now uses electric cars.

I want to see Elon face plant so bad, but even if he doesn't, the mass electric car-ification of America is a pretty fucking cool alternative.

[-] thevoidzero@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago

Considering they adapt to tesla. A problem I see is them removing any need to have a common infrastructure to support all electrical vehicles. And just have charging stations and such that only work with tesla. So people are semi forced to buy it because government made infrastructure for it and other electric car companies can't use that and can't build all that for their cars. Don't be that optimistic when they are literally there only for their benefits

[-] Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 days ago

Sure, this defacto would make Tesla the standard electric car for the US. But I'll note that the rest of the car world is already adopting the Tesla plug as their physical standard, so a future government (assuming you guys have any) could just pass a law that says Tesla cannot restrict the use of their charging stations, or add any extra fees for non-Tesla vehicles.

And either way, the mass conversion of the US to electric vehicles is still a good consolation prize, even if it locks in a regional monopoly for Tesla. Sometimes you take the wins where you can get them.

[-] jballs@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 days ago

I'm also curious to see if Trump's cult leader power can overcome decades of oil and gas brainwashing. Conservatives have proven they'll quickly throw away their beliefs when Trump tells them to, but it's not always reliable.

For example, in 2020 conservatives were all for Trump's "Operation Warp Speed" to find a COVID vaccine. But as soon as Biden won and the vaccines rolled out in 2021, many conservatives took an antivax stance. Later, Trump got booed at one of his rallies for suggesting that people get vaccinated.

So he can steer the cult agenda, but not always successfully. I guess we'll see how this plays out.

[-] Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Yeah, my feeling is this one will fail. While they can paint the backlash against Tesla as the "radical left", the adoption of electric cars more broadly is still very much seen as a lefty, pro-environment kind of thing. Since they're still very much against all those things, I think it'll be hard to square that with the idea that Teslas are suddenly great.

Plus, even his base don't really seem to love Elon all that much.

[-] jballs@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 days ago

Looks like TSLA is up 8% today. So seems to have solved Elon's immediate problem of the stock tanking.

[-] Tiger@sh.itjust.works 3 points 4 days ago

I imagine many MAGA diehards have been bled broke already buying all of Trump’s scam items from watches, sneakers, bibles, meme coins and whatnot.

[-] TexasDrunk@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

That's why they have financing at 29.9%

[-] Horsey@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

I’ve been saying option 2 was in full force after Elmo went right wing years ago. You see it here in Arizona. The Trump right wingers are not principled outside of religion, and even then there’s an argument against that. If there’s a lack of principals, and their opinions are handed to them by Fox News and Newsmax, then option 2 is entirely conceivable. Anecdotally, I see a lot more conservatives going electric now that they have a brand that shares their values. Anyone remember how right wing people hated social media a decade ago? They didn’t really hate social media, they hated that their views weren’t popular there.

[-] Chainweasel@lemmy.world 6 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Maybe among MAGA, but overall, I think this would accelerate the decline.

Let's not forget that most of MAGA stand behind Trump because they can't afford eggs and they think he's going to fix it.
Most of them can't afford a brand new $50k Silverado, there's no way they'll pass a credit check for an $80k Cybertruck.

lol yeah this is only going to speed up the free-fall of the stock price

[-] Donjuanme@lemmy.world 10 points 3 days ago

The fuck.... I thought that was ai/Photoshop for sure, didn't even trust the water mark.

[-] ironhydroxide@sh.itjust.works 16 points 4 days ago

"everythings computer, that's beautiful"

Wow. So articulate. This guy should definitely be running a country. /s

[-] just_another_person@lemmy.world 10 points 4 days ago

This is incredibly pathetic, and like the millionth time we've seen Trump holding scripts for dumb shit like this.

[-] sunflowercowboy@feddit.org 7 points 3 days ago

So when is he gonna draw the last bits of the swastika for all his X brands?

[-] MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago
[-] BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works 11 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

PoS? Yes!
Nazi? Double yes!
Wannabe? No, he's not a wannabe nazi, if you want to be a nazi then you already are.

[-] MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

Well, I'm trying a tiny bit to avoid libel.

[-] ricecake@sh.itjust.works 4 points 4 days ago

If your sales decline is because of a boycott by the "radical left", doesn't that mean that your product mostly appeals to ... The "radical left"?

[-] bstix@feddit.dk 1 points 3 days ago

There is no boycott. People just don't want to buy it.

The ones that do want to buy one already bought one. It's unfortunate for Musk that his wealth is tied to an unrealistic expectation of continuously increasing sales, but that's just bad judgement on his and the investors parts.

[-] notsoshaihulud@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago

This is actually a good thing. Now tesla isn't only attached to musk but to MAGA and trump too. It ensures that these vehicles will become the literal object of people's anger. It's sorta similar to people getting riled up over the price of eggs, but here, it's seeing a tesla will remind people of their anger and with this new MAGA badge on this car, this anger won't dissipate even after musk is thrown under the bus (because that's the plan).

Make Teslas Uninsurable

[-] zephorah@lemm.ee 1 points 4 days ago

Wow.

Tesla is the new Trump Bible.

this post was submitted on 12 Mar 2025
555 points (100.0% liked)

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