President Donald Trump’s ridiculous car salesman schtick at the White House Tuesday made a mockery of the Executive Office. It was pathetic seeing Trump and Elon Musk—the two most powerful people in the world—crying about how persecuted they think they are.
It was also terrible business for Musk.
His problem is that the core market for electric vehicles—wealthy environmentally conscious liberals—has turned hard against Tesla since Musk has come out as a loud and proud Nazi.
Further tying Tesla to electric vehicle-hating Trump only drives away even more potential buyers while doing little to win over Trump’s base of poorer Americans who are hostile toward the environment and EVs.
And it was terrible politics for Trump.
Trump won because of inflation. All other culture war nonsense played a role, sure, but in the end, Trump upended the usual campaign dynamics by winning voters making less than $50,000, while former Vice President Kamala Harris won voters making more than $100,000.
Trump and Musk sit together inside of a Tesla vehicle.
The Democratic Party is now the party of the educated elite, while the Republican Party has become the party of the lower socioeconomic strata.
Even though Trump won white voters handily by 57-42, Harris won college-educated white voters by 53-45, according to 2024 exit polls. Trump also won non-college white voters by 66-32. Overall, Harris won college-educated voters by 56-42 and lost non-college voters by 56-43.
In other words, Trump voters don’t buy Teslas. So how is this terrible politics for Trump?
Tens of millions of Americans voted for Trump because they believed his repeated promises that “Starting on Day 1, we will end inflation and make America affordable again.”
Instead, Trump spent Day 1 renaming the Gulf of Mexico and Mount Denali in Alaska, starting nonsensical trade wars with Canada and Mexico, aligning himself with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, firing tens of thousands of government workers, slashing popular government programs—many of which directly benefit his own base—and otherwise doing everything but lower prices.
And while he’s certainly full of excuses, none of them are, “Sorry, I got distracted. Let me get back to working on lowering prices.”
In fact, Trump is full steam ahead on his trade wars and deportation plans, which will only increase prices … by a lot. So now the stock market is tanking and Social Security is at risk.
Meanwhile, Trump is hosting Tesla infomercials at the White House to promote Musk’s Tesla vehicles—several of which cost more than $100,000.
Even Trump’s beloved Fox News couldn’t ignore the horrendous optics of this stunt.
x
DOOCY: You're buying a new car. There are some folks who will see this clip at home and they are struggling with their retirement accounts down at the moment.
TRUMP: Well I think they're gonna go great. Our country had to do this.
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-03-11T19:49:48.136Z
Trump said he would buy an $80,000 red Tesla Model S for White House staff, since he doesn’t drive. But how will they charge the car? Trump is literally removing charging stations from all government buildings—just another example of how Trump’s hatred for EVs is in direct conflict with his need to please Musk.
At the end of the day, Trump doesn’t give a damn about his supporters, much less the broader American people. Of course, no one should be surprised, considering he said on the campaign trail, “I don’t care about you. I just want your vote.”
Campaign Action
