Donald Trump turned the White House into a Tesla parking lot as a show of support for Elon Musk after a disastrous couple of days for the company.
Tesla’s share price dropped to an all-time low this week, meaning the company’s value has halved in the space of just three months.
On Monday, Tesla shares plummeted by 15 per cent, prompting a Trump meltdown on social media. In a post on Truth Social, he blamed an “illegal boycott” and the “radical left lunatics” for electric car company’s poor performance, and vowed to buy a Tesla himself.
So, on Tuesday he turned the front of the White House into what was effectively a Tesla parking lot, as various models from the company were displayed.
He then purchased one of the models in a show of support for the company, which he described as “Elon’s baby.”
Getting into one of the cars, the red Model S, Trump said the vehicle was “beautiful”, declaring that “everything is computer.”
He then said: “The one I like is that one, and I want the same color.” NBC reports that the vehicle is listed on the Tesla website for $73,490, or $88,490 for the all-wheel-drive Model S Plaid.”
Reacting to the bizarre event on social media, some said it was proof that the entire administration is a “scam” and “corrupt.”
There was also a bizarre moment when Trump rambled on about cheques and how he prefers them to the “modern system” where “all of the sudden there’s money in your account.”
On Monday, Tesla’s share price dropped by 15.4 per cent, the biggest drop since September 2020.
This continues a pretty clear trend in the company’s stock price in recent weeks – down. Since Trump was inaugurated as president, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk became his right-hand man, the price of Tesla shares has tanked by more than 50 per cent.
After sitting at an all-time high of $479.86 in December, the electric car company’s stock value sat at $222.15 when markets closed on Monday. To put this another way, roughly $800 billion has been wiped from the company’s value.
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