Trump Uses the White House to Make a Sales Pitch for Tesla in Exchange for Campaign Cash from Musk
By using DOGE to seize unchecked control over the U.S. government, interfering in other countries’ politics by supporting far-right and even violent groups and figures, Elon Musk has made himself unpopular with much of the buying public. This has driven down Tesla sales and its stock price precipitously. So Donald Trump gave his pal a helping hand by turning the White House into a stage for a Tesla ad.
NBC News reports:
President Donald Trump turned the South Lawn of the White House into a temporary Tesla showroom Tuesday in a conspicuous favor to his adviser Elon Musk, the car company’s billionaire CEO. …
Because of ethical restraints, it is extremely rare for a senior government official, let alone a sitting president, to endorse a consumer product so explicitly. In 2017, when then-Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway told Americans to buy from Ivanka Trump’s clothing line, she received a warning from a government ethics office and promised never to do it again. …
Tesla, meanwhile, has faced an extended global backlash to Musk’s increasing role in politics, most notably for his role in slashing government jobs and his recent promotion of far-right parties, including Germany’s AfD. Tesla’s shares have declined every week since Musk went to Washington, and they fell 15% on Monday before they rebounded Tuesday. Tesla facilities have faced a wave of both peaceful demonstrations and vandalism, including fires at charging stations.
Asked whether his purchase might help Tesla’s stock, Trump said, “I hope it does.”
Musk, in return, has pledged to give $100 million to Trump’s political organizations, making Trump the highest-paid pitchman in history.
Ethics rules prohibit federal employees from using their offices or positions to promote private commercial products. In the Trump administration, these rules have already been flagrantly violated, so it is no surprise to see such a massive and open violation at the very top.
The Executive Watch is a project of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism, and its flagship publication The UnPopulist, to track in an ongoing way the abuses of the power of the American presidency. It sorts these abuses into five categories: Personal Grift, Political Corruption, Presidential Retribution, Power Consolidation, and Policy Illegality. Click the category of interest to get an overview of all the abuses under it.
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