Donald Trump has bought a Tesla in support of the car company he calls “Elon’s baby”.
The White House driveway briefly became a pop-up showroom, with various models on display.
“Will I get in?” he asked the waiting media, before declaring the red Model S “beautiful”.
Tesla stock has lost half its value in three months, its share price tanking to an all-time low this week. The president had urged Americans to buy Tesla in solidarity with Elon Musk, “a great American”.
Federal workers sacked by his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) were not impressed by the president’s purchase.
“I will never buy a Tesla,” Dr Peter Kerndt told me.
A former employee at USAID Global Health, Dr Kerndt said cuts made in recent weeks would “cost lives”.
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Amy, who worked in the environmental agency, told me she became “unaccountably angry every time a Tesla passed by” but expressed it “internally”.
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The Tesla brand has become the focal point for protest over Musk’s role in cutting government spending.
What began with bumper stickers declaring “I bought this before Elon went crazy” has descended into violence on forecourts at charging stations.
But with the president of the United States now acting as a salesman, there’s still a steady flow of customers.
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At one dealership in Virginia, a woman told me she’d recently been in an accident and safety was her priority.
“I’m a federal employee myself but need to separate the fact that as a vehicle, the car just makes sense,” she said.
There is much debate about who is in the driving seat – the US president or CEO of Tesla? But for now at least, the relationship between them seems as invincible as a Cybertruck.
