At the White House, Trump bought a car with Musk in it

The High-Security Presidential Limo: Trump’s Failure to Shut Down the Public Sector for Private Profit and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN

The President stepped into a car that was not the usual high-security presidential limo on Tuesday.

It’s unusual to make a public backing of a private company by the president. The White House did not reply to the request if ethics rules were followed.

Musk has both a role in the government and a role in the private sector, but his role in the government has been blurred as he has led the effort to make the administration efficient. The companies receive billions in federal contracts as the administration cuts spending.

Richard Painter, former chief White House ethics lawyer under former President George W. Bush, said the display appears to violate federal rules prohibiting the use of public office for private gain, though those rules do not apply to the president.

“It looks like a way of saying this economy will be driven by favoritism,” Painter said. It looks like the government is picking winners and losing.

Trump said he would pay for the car with a check and keep it in the White House, despite the fact he revoked incentives for electric vehicles.

Sales of non-terrestrial cars continued to increase despite the drop in sales ofTesla. The number of electric cars purchased by Americans increased by 7.3 percent last year according to the Kelley Blue Book. EVs now claim 8.1 percent of the market in the US.

“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,” President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday. “Why should he be punished for putting his tremendous skills to work in order to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN???”

Musk has also actively gummed up the works for a cheaper Tesla vehicle. Last year, he canceled the company’s plans to build a low-cost electric vehicle and instead went all in on a robot taxi. He claimed that a cheaper version of the Model 3 and Model Y would be built on the same platform. The investors are concerned that this new vehicle will cannibalize Model 3 and Y sales and hurt the company’s profits.

But that was pre-DOGE, before the salute, and before the stock wipeout. The board is not entirely free of pinch. Chair Robyn Denholm and director James Murdoch (son of Rupert Murdoch) both sold millions of dollars’ worth of shares in the past month.

And even more are protesting outside Tesla showrooms as part of a grassroots effort to oppose Musk’s takeover of the federal government, damage the company’s stock price, and maybe even slash the world’s richest man’s net worth.

Musk and other people are operating real self-sufficient cars on the road. The Alphabet-owned company just launched its first partnership with Uber in Austin, Texas — Tesla’s headquarters and the city where Musk has said he plans on launching his own robotaxi project this summer.

Meanwhile, Kia and Volkswagen have announced plans to actually produce affordable EVs. And China has cracked the code on budget-priced, highly affordable EVs. The BYD Seagull had a sticker price of around $10,000, and was the best selling vehicle in the country last summer. Even with a 100 percent tariff, the Seagull would still sell for a price much cheaper than most US-made EVs.

Musk has said the company would build the more affordable EV on its next-gen vehicle platform. But rather than prioritize a vehicle that investors took to calling the “Model 2,” he spent Tesla’s resources on the expensive, polarizing Cybertruck. And after some initial excitement, the truck has turned into a flop. The CEO of the electric company predicted 500,000 Cybertrucks a year. Last year, the company only sold an estimated 40,000.

A frequent criticism you see about Tesla is that the company’s vehicle lineup is getting a little long in the tooth. The Model X turns 10 this year, while the Model S is pushing 15. The vehicles have only gotten minor updates since they were launched. A company executive promised a refresh later in the year.

And unlike BYD, Tesla doesn’t sell any hybrid or gas-powered vehicles. When consumers worry about the future of electric cars, it’s not hard to see why.

Tesla Stock Price Soaring after Donald Trump’s Vows: An Insight from a Times-Revisited Transportation Editor

is transportation editor with 10+ years of experience who covers EVs, public transportation, and aviation. His work has appeared in The New York Daily News and City & State.

Trump’s election last year sent Tesla’s stock price soaring, as investors rewarded Musk for making the right political bet. It hit a record high of $488 in mid-December; by early March, it had sunk to roughly $226.