(Adnkronos) – New chapters continue to be written in the alliance between Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Despite the American president’s “endorsement” of Tesla, which hosted a “showcase” at the White House last week, according to the Washington Post, Musk’s company is facing harsh repercussions to its image, mainly due to the decline in “liberal” support that had favored its initial rise. To address this, the tycoon is calling on the Maga world to support the ally’s companies, while Dem senators denounce possible conflicts of interest in the relationship between the two.
The White House event, in which the president announced that he had chosen a Tesla Model S as his personal car, further consolidated the alliance between Musk and Trump, who now threatens to classify those who vandalize Tesla vehicles as “domestic terrorists.” “If you touch a Tesla, go to a dealership, do something, you better watch out because we’re coming to get you,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in an interview with Fox Business. “And if you’re funding these actions, we’re coming to get you. We’ll find out who you are.”
Meanwhile, Republican politicians and Maga influencers are pushing their supporters to buy Tesla vehicles, while according to Google Trends data, “Buy a Tesla” is currently among the most requested information on the search engine, at least among Republican states. Senator Ted Cruz commented on X that “this might be the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.” However, the risk for the company is to alienate – perhaps permanently – the liberal clientele that had largely favored its initial rise.
Some experts see the alliance between Musk and Trump as a double-edged sword. “Musk’s gamble that serving and leading the Maga assault could benefit him economically is risky, to say the least,” Paul Barrett, deputy director of the Stern Center for Business and Human Rights at New York University, told the Post. “Musk’s companies could be so tarnished in the eyes of many ordinary citizens that they suffer irreparable damage to their reputation.” According to Barrett, there is also a danger that Musk will become “the embodiment of crony capitalism.”
The entrepreneur invested about $290 million to support Trump in the last presidential election, a commitment that led him to forge an increasingly close bond with the president. However, his position in federal governance and the cost cuts he promoted proved highly divisive. According to a Washington Post-Ipsos poll, nearly half of Americans disapprove of his involvement in government. Although the association with Trump initially benefited the Pretoria tycoon’s business, Tesla’s stock fell 35% in 2025, wiping out the gains made immediately after Trump’s victory.
The growing conservative support for Musk’s companies may not be enough to reverse the negative trend. “If Tesla sales are down year-over-year, I think it’s due to the brand damage,” said Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management. “People have very strong opinions about Elon, and in the last two months they’ve become even more stark.” The complex implications for Tesla of the owner’s political engagement were also highlighted by Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, who spoke of a “moment of truth” for Musk and his company, pointing out how Trump’s victory, while on the one hand promises to facilitate the spread of autonomous vehicles, on the other hand has “intertwined Tesla with this brewing political storm.”
Trump’s renewed promotion of Tesla has finally raised allegations of conflict of interest. Four Democratic senators have asked the US Office of Government Ethics to recommend an investigation into the promotion of Tesla by Musk and Trump. Democratic Sen. Gerry Connolly, the top member of the House Oversight Committee, sent a letter to Trump attorney David Warrington last Wednesday seeking information about potential ethics violations.
Connolly asked the White House to identify government employees who helped organize the event. He also wants to know what communications White House officials had with Tesla prior to the event and who within the White House has financial interests in the automaker and what role, if any, they played in organizing the event. The White House has until March 26 to respond. “Americans are struggling to afford groceries, child care, and housing,” he wrote. “President Trump’s solution to the growing economic crisis is a car commercial that he hoped could drive up the stock price of Tesla, a company run by one of his biggest campaign donors who is also a federal contractor, Elon Musk.”
