Donald Trump flogs Teslas at the White House as he tries to save Elon Musk from plummeting stock

There were quite strange scenes in Washington D.C. today as US President Donald Trump intervened on Elon Musk’s behalf.

There were quite strange scenes in Washington D.C. today as US President Donald Trump used the White House as the backdrop for, essentially, a Tesla sales pitch.

Mr Trump was trying to help one of his top advisers, billionaire Elon Musk, who in addition to his cost-cutting role in the US government remains CEO of Tesla.

The electric car company’s stock price has plummeted since Mr Trump took power, falling from $US432 the day after the President’s inauguration, to $222 today.

Mr Musk, and his recent full-blown foray into politics, are undeniably a factor. He donated well over $US200 million to Mr Trump’s election campaign last year, despite the President’s long record of slagging off electric vehicles.

There are two key problems for the Tesla boss. First, he is distracted. His work in the government is subtracting from the time he has to run his various companies. And second, his new-found far-right politics jar with Tesla’s target customer, which has long been your classic California-style, greenish lefty.

Mr Trump did his best, right in front of the White House, to sell Teslas to Americans. You can see his notes from the event here.

(The President has repeatedly mocked journalists, during press conferences, for relying on notes, but as hypocrisies go that is among his smaller offences.)

The notes Mr Trump was carrying for the event. Picture: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Mr Trump, Mr Musk and one of Mr Musk’s children stand next to a Tesla car outside the White House. Picture: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

He appeared alongside Mr Musk and one of the billionaire’s children, X, on the White House driveway. Parked in front of the building were a Cybertruck and a red sports car.

Mr Trump described Tesla’s cars as “a great product” and “as good as it gets”.

“This man has devoted his energy and his life to doing this. I think he’s been treated very unfairly by a very small group of people. And I just want people to know that you can’t be penalised for being a patriot. And he’s a great patriot,” he said.

“So, I just wanted to make a statement. Now, here’s the bad news. I’m not allowed to drive, because I haven’t driven a car in a long time. And I love to drive cars, but I’m going to have it at the White House, and I’m gonna let my staff use it.”

As you can tell from that quote, Mr Trump signalled his intention to buy one of the Tesla vehicles. He said he knew Mr Musk would give him a discount, if asked, but as President he wanted “to pay full price”.

Mr Trump’s notes were visible. They included the exact prices of various Tesla models, a reminder that all of the cars “have self-driving”, and an infommercial style pitch: “Teslas can be purchased as low as $299 a month or $35,000.”

He also had a sheet of paper emphasising that Tesla was an “incredible American company”, and reminding him to say that “I will personally be buying a new Tesla”.

Mr Trump proceeded to jump into one of the vehicles and faux-drive it.

Mr Musk, Mr Trump and one of Mr Musk’s children at the event in question outside the White House. Picture: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

That is, of course, the White House behind them. Picture: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

I … I have nothing to say about this. I present it without comment. Picture: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Is he having fun? I can’t tell. Picture: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

So, an interesting intervention from the American President there, essentially lobbying Americans on behalf of a private company.

Mr Musk appeared to be enjoying himself. Don’t ask me why he brought one of his kids along; the same boy who has accompanied him to meetings in the Oval Office and with a few world leaders. A few months ago he was telling one of his baby mamas not to reveal that he was the father of her new child, in the name of safety.

“Only the paranoid survive,” was Mr Musk’s exact quote, according to court documents.

Yet he keeps gallivanting around the White House with another of his children, whose face and identity are in full view, absent a care in the world.

Really not sure what to make of that extremely obvious inconsistency. The best I can do is this: Mr Musk seems to be the sort of person whose principles change on a whim, and at his convenience.

The bros. Picture: Pool via AP

Mr Trump’s assistance comes a day after Mr Musk conceded, during an interview with Fox Business, that his role leading the DOGE cost-cutting team inside Mr Trump’s administration was making it harder to run his various companies.

“With great difficulty,” he said when asked, by host Larry Kudlow, how he was still fulfilling his role as CEO of those businesses.

“I’m just here, trying to make government more efficient, eliminate waste and fraud and so far we are making good progress.”

The Tesla boss has also been spending a great deal of his time on social media. His current bugbear is people who support Ukraine in its war to repel Russia’s invasion.

Yesterday he branded one of America’s senators, a former US Navy pilot and astronaut, a “traitor” to the country over his advocacy for Ukraine.

Mark Kelly, a Democrat, is a senator representing Arizona. Before politics he was a naval aviator, and flew in dozens of combat missions during the Gulf War. Then he became a space shuttle pilot with NASA.

He retired from both the Navy and NASA in 2011 after his wife, then-congresswoman Gabby Giffords, was shot in the head and almost killed in an assassination attempt.

(Ms Giffords did live through that, by the way, but as a result of the shooting she suffers from aphasia, which affects her ability to speak.) Mr Kelly then campaigned for gun control before deciding to enter politics himself in 2019.

Mark Kelly when he was an astronaut. Picture: NASA

“The world will become a very cold and lonely place if we continue this ridiculous ‘screw you, go it alone’ foreign policy,” Mr Kelly argued after a visit to Ukraine in recent days.

“It’s dumb, and it won’t age well, and puts you and your kids and your grandkids at risk. America is the strongest, richest country in the world. We didn’t get there by being bullies like Putin, we got there by leading from the front and bringing our allies.

“That’s why I’ll continue to share with everyone who will listen why we must keep supporting Ukraine.”

To which Mr Musk responded, quite succinctly: “You are a traitor.”

Originally published as Donald Trump flogs Teslas at the White House as he tries to save Elon Musk from plummeting stock