Trump, an E.V. Naysayer, Gives Tesla and Musk a White House Exhibition; The New York Times, March 11, 2025

Tyler Pager, The New York Times; Trump, an E.V. Naysayer, Gives Tesla and Musk a White House Exhibition

[Kip Currier: Elon Musk and Donald Trump are on public record for having uproariously laughed like juvenile school boys when talking about firing workers in 2024.

In 2025, they've been similarly gleeful about their efforts to fire thousands of gainfully employed workers who are providing services to the American people and the world. 

Trump and Musk have been utterly indifferent to the economic needs of single workers and workers with spouses and children, many of whom have childcare costs, mortgages, and older parents to look after. Workers with spiraling groceries -- including eggs -- to pay for, student loans to pay back, and illnesses and medicines covered by healthcare, who are being summarily terminated from their jobs and losing that medical care (see here and here and here).

Losing their jobs is no laughing matter to these workers and their families.

Now, when Tesla sales are cratering (see here and here and here and here and here), Musk and Trump want you to buy Musk's cars, as this New York Times article reports today. A photographer at the White House-held Tesla endorsement/advertising event even captured a photo of the handwritten note Trump carried, which Business Insider said "read like a sales pitch"; some legal experts have suggested these actions violate the Hatch Act. 

Trump and Musk want you to forget how they're gutting government services that taxpayers depend on and destroying the lives of thousands of middle and lower class workers and persons in need.

The only thing that billionaires like this will notice is when the People stop buying their products.

That gets their attention.

That gets them upset and angry enough to falsely claim that boycotts are illegal.

That causes them (some degree of) pain. If nothing else, at least to their asset portfolios, net worths, and unchecked egos.

We the People have the power to say No to their 21st century Gilded Age.]

[Excerpt]

"President Trump hosted an exclusive car show at the White House on Tuesday afternoon.

The only company represented: Tesla. The only purpose: helping Elon Musk.

With Tesla facing a backlash over Mr. Musk’s role in the Trump administration, the president said he wanted to buy one of the company’s electric vehicles. But Mr. Trump, always a salesman, did not just want to purchase a car. He wanted to hawk it and help out his friend, who also happens to be Tesla’s chief executive."