\n<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is going to be viewing a Tesla that is making its way to the White House complex now, I can confirm,\u201d she said. \u201cPerhaps the press pool today will have an opportunity to witness this very exciting moment later this afternoon, but a Tesla is on its way here now and we\u2019ll see if the president likes it when he checks it out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shortly afterward, a fleet of Teslas appeared, magicked by electricity to the White House, for the car salesmen\u2014President Trump and Musk\u2014to do a photo op. \u201cI’m gonna buy a car,” Trump told surrounding press, adding that Margo Martin on his White House communications staff<\/a> could drive it. Reason? In part because, even though Trump has trashed electric vehicles at numerous points, Teslas are suddenly \u201cgood.” And also because Musk \u201chas been treated very unfairly by a small group of people.\u201d<\/p>\n Just for fun, since Musk does love his napkin math, let\u2019s examine Trump’s alleged purchase of a MAGA-red Model S, which carries a base price of around $80,000.* After all, he\u2019s doing this to put a few bucks in his guy\u2019s pocket, right? $29 billion, the amount Musk\u2019s net worth dropped Monday, divided by $80,000 is\u2026 362,500. So Musk lost more than 360,000 base-model Model S Teslas worth of money yesterday.<\/p>\n Perhaps the optics worked out for Musk? Perhaps not<\/em>. Tesla stock opened Tuesday at $225 a share, below its 52-week average<\/a>. And even though Trump put on his Tesla parade long before the markets closed, Tesla barely moved, inching up around $235 during the show, then closing the day at $230\/share<\/a>\u2014far, far short of its $480 post-election high<\/a>. Maybe all of the Trump voters who aren’t currently worried about their 401ks<\/a>, housing prices<\/a>, a recession<\/a>, or the price of groceries and eggs<\/a> will buy some Teslas, and help make it up to their very own government overlords.<\/p>\n In an interview Monday on Fox Business<\/a>, Musk again appeared to be having some feelings about DOGE\u2019s impact on his other businesses, several of which have made headlines in the last week or so: SpaceX had the explosion\u2014ugh, there I go again, I mean rapid unscheduled disassembly<\/em>, X had widespread downtime Monday due to what the company said was a targeted cyberattack, Teslas are being vandalized, and Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis<\/strong> announced that she and Musk have welcomed another human baby<\/a>.<\/p>\n Asked how he\u2019s running his private businesses while working his unpaid gig in the government, Musk had a wry response: \u201cWith great difficulty.\u201d He chuckled and appended a sort of verbal shrug. \u201cYeah, I mean.\u201d<\/p>\n Yeah, I mean<\/em>, indeed.<\/p>\n (*Asked whether Trump paid full price; whether he bought it personally or under the taxpayer-funded auspices of government; and indeed, whether he’d bought it, for real<\/em>, at all, The White House told Vanity Fair<\/em> to \u201cRefer to the President’s comments.\u201d)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n