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Donald Trump declared Tuesday that Elon Musk — who is worth an estimated $320 billion — has been “treated very unfairly” as the president promoted Tesla vehicles from the White House’s south lawn and committed to buying one of the cars himself.
“I’m going to buy because number one, it’s a great product. As good as it gets. Number two, because [Elon Musk] has devoted his energy and his life to doing this, and I think he has been treated unfairly,” Trump told reporters outside the White House Tuesday afternoon.
A smiling Musk soaked in the praise standing nearby with his mini-me young son X Æ A-Xii, whom he shares with Canadian singer Grimes.
Trump touted Teslas after the car company took the biggest stock tumble in four years on Monday.
“I just want people to know that you can’t be penalized for being a patriot, and he’s a great patriot, and he’s also done an incredible job with Tesla,” Trump said.
“I mean, nobody else has a car company started up in the last 30 years that’s been successful. I don’t think so,” Trump hedged.
“But because he’s finding all sorts of terrible things that have taken place against our country, we want to penalize him in an economic sense. And I just think that’s very unfair,” the president added, referring to the backlash against Musk’s work carving up the federal government via the Department of Governemnt Efficiency (DOGE).
Musk previously told Fox Business he’s having “great difficulty” balancing his DOGE duties with his responsibilities as CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. Some investors have criticized him for spending more time on DOGE than his business empire, The Hill reports.
Tesla vehicles have become the target of vandalism and arson by Musk critics, and Tesla dealerships have been the focus of growing anti-Musk protests. Protesters demonstrated at more than 50 Tesla dealerships across the U.S. and in Barcelona, London and Lisbon early this month, according to CNN.
Trump said he wants to label people who attempt to vandalize the cars as “domestic terrorists.”
“I’ll do it,” Trump warned. “I’m going to stop them … because they’re harming a great American company. I’ve stuck up for a lot of American companies.”
He added: “Those people are going to go through a big problem when we catch them.”
