Tesla I mentioned on 2024 on Thursday marked the first annual decline in sales for the Austin, Texas-based automaker in at least 12 years. This decline coincided with the company’s CEO, Elon Musk, endorsing and financing Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, and his transformation into a major player within the Republican Party.
Tesla said it delivered 1.79 million cars in 2024, which is 1.1% less than the 1.81 million cars the company sold in 2023. Again in 2022Tesla confidently expected the company to grow 50% annually over the next few years. This did not happen when Musk completed the MAGA program.
Before 2024, Musk showed Some signs of conservatism. But his extremism escalated dramatically with the escalation of the presidential elections Attack The so-called “woke mind virus” who blames leftist ideas for his child’s gender transition.
After purchasing Twitter and renaming the social media platform as “X” Musk I repeat Trump’s account, which was deactivated by the previous administration after the sore loser used it to incite the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Musk It has also been reactivated Account of right-wing conspiracy theorist and mega-Trumper Alex Jones.
In October, Musk made his party official by endorsing Trump and appearing with him at a rally in Pennsylvania.
“President Trump must win to preserve the Constitution. He must win to preserve democracy in America.” Musk saidafter violently Jump around on stage.
Musk He funded a super PAC He supported Trump’s campaign and spent at least $250 million to help his Republican ally win the election, as well as allowing pro-Trump election misinformation to spread. Widely circulated On his social network.
After winning the elections… His name is Trump Musk is co-chairman of the Government Efficiency Administration, which is not a government agency but an outside monitoring group seeking greater success. Reducing government spending by $2 trillion.
Even as Musk has publicly embraced the Republican Party and its conservative agenda, polls have shown that Democrats — who have traditionally supported clean energy products like Tesla’s electric cars — are turning away from the company. An analysis from CivicScience released in July Found it Tesla’s popularity fell to 16% among Democrats, from 39% in January 2024.
“It has completely alienated most of its buyer base,” said investor Mark Spiegel. Yahoo! finance When the survey was released.
After Trump’s victory, many X users — including journalists, who had been the lifeblood of the site —He started leaving platform in large numbers.
Trump has already hinted at friendly political steps toward Musk, with his transition team declaring his preference for that Adoption A recommendation that would eliminate federal crash reporting requirements for self-driving cars (from companies like Tesla). But the nascent friendly relationship was not smooth sailing.
There have been grumblings from Trump’s allies that Musk is overstepping his role Serve as co-chair With Trump. A South African immigrant was also recently implicated A very public fight With Trump’s anti-immigrant supporters due to his pro-H-1B visas stance for tech workers.
Musk’s chosen candidate will soon become president, and the billionaire clearly has Trump’s ears. But Tesla’s growing problems — and emerging divisions within the MAGA coalition — could be an early warning sign of war The richest man in the world.
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