Tesla’s Loyal Following Has Vanished

On Saturday Night Live this week, alum Mike Myers played Tesla CEO Elon Musk. “Suddenly, no one likes Tesla cars,” Myers muttered. “So I asked myself why, and then I answered myself: because of me.

” Alluding to the disintegration of Tesla’s loyal following, he also played a video of a new Tesla model that would be “the first electric car in history to be fully self-vandalizing.” In the strange way that life imitates art, Musk soon after responded to the jokes on his social media site, X. “SNL hasn’t been funny in a long time.

They are their own parody.” The White House has endowed X with the same power and visibility as news organizations — it was one of an increasing number of perks landed by Musk as he became a trusted adviser to President Donald J. Trump.

Editorial cartoonist Michael de Adder added more dark humor to Musk’s weekend . “Elon is thinking of leaving,” a character utters, their words captured in a speech bubble. “We’re going to need another lightning rod,” a companion replies in their own speech bubble.

It was a busy weekend for Musk. He spoke via video-link at a congress in Florence; Italy’s right-wing, co-ruling League Party was the host. Musk said he hoped to see complete freedom of trade between the US and Europe in the future.

“At the end of the day, I hope it’s agreed that both Europe and the United States should move ideally, in my view, to a zero tariff situation, effectively creating a free trade zone between Europe and North America,” Musk said. “If people wish to work in Europe or wish to work in North America, they should be allowed to do so in my view,” Musk said, adding that this “has certainly been my advice to the president.” Of course, it was just a few days earlier when Musk’s bro’ Trump had announced tariffs on trading partners.

Italy would be subject to a general tariff of 20% along with other European Union countries. Has Musk lost interest in Trump’s policies, and, if so, why? What sparked this sudden challenge to Trump’s authority? Could it be the recent flight of what had been Tesla’s loyal following? Has the company’s sales slide finally hit Musk? When new electric vehicle competition slowed Tesla sales numbers after its early marketplace lead, Musk didn’t seem too concerned. The company slashed some prices here, offered excellent financing there, even refreshed its popular Model Y small SUV and Model 3 sedan.

None of these steps brought an associated surge of Tesla interest. Amanda Mull of Bloomberg suggests that Tesla “is in the middle of what might be politely described as a vibe shift.” No longer do progressives support the company or its CEO — there are too many questions about the company’s actual dedication to protecting workers rights, transportation innovation, or transitioning to a sustainable world.

It has been Musk’s alliance with Trump that seems to have dealt the final blow to Tesla. Tesla owners have sold their vehicles in protest of his Orwellian Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) moves. The car sale on the White House lawn did little to assuage Tesla’s loyal following from abandoning him in droves.

Musk’s heil salute was particularly distasteful to Tesla’s base. Tesla dealerships have been attacked and its vehicles have been vandalized. Many owners like me who decided to keep their Tesla vehicles have placed bumper stickers that explain they made their purchase prior to Musk’s ideological collapse into authoritarianism .

We don’t want to be caught up in Musk’s cesspool. This is not the first time in the company’s history that we have wondered if Tesla products were remarkable and resilient enough to withstand broader negative forces. By 2022, Tesla narratives seemed to switch to the antics of its mercurial CEO.

Lots of former Tesla aficionados then were dismayed by revelations about his private life and other ways that his often outrageous antics seeped into the Tesla brand identity. Last year, the Tesla brand was on full display as Musk tried to convince Chinese and US regulators as well as Tesla investors that the company’s Full Self Driving (FSD) technology was nearly ready to emulate every driving task that a human currently undertakes. The company seems to be collapsing in on itself right now, though.

Tesla needs to sell cars. “It’s nearly impossible to think of a comparable example of a company detonating its own brand,” Mull states. With Tesla owners and shareholders now expressing dismay about the company, Tesla share value has plunged from a year-high of $488 to today’s closing price of $233.

As Jennifer Rubin reports this morning on The Contrarian , many people in the US “may have been surprised to see just how robust and united is the opposition to Musk-Trump’s radical agenda, which is sinking the economy, dismantling functional government, and destroying our international stature while running roughshod over our rule of law.” For weeks leading up to April 5, largely spontaneous and widespread protests had been underreported. Hands Off! demonstrations were organized for Saturday for more than 1,300 locations in all 50 states by more than 150 groups, including civil rights organizations, labor unions, LBGTQ+ advocates, veterans, and elections activists.

Regardless of the location, they were part of coordinated mass protests in what Common Dreams called “the largest public rebuke yet to President Donald Trump and top henchman Elon Musk’s assault on the workings of the federal government.” If there is any light at the end of this proverbial tunnel, it is the way that groups have started to speak out against the world’s richest man, often with humor. As reported by the New York Times , many satirical marketing posters have been hung strategically around London.

On the side of an East London bus stop, a poster shows Elon Musk emerging from a Tesla’s roof with his hand pointing upward in a straight-armed salute. “Goes from 0 to 1939 in 3 seconds,” the ad reads. “Tesla.

The Swasticar.” Another poster shows Musk and Trump in front of a red Tesla with the words, “Now With White Power Steering.” In North London, a fake movie billboard celebrates “The Fast and the Führer,” with a picture of Musk saluting beside a Tesla with a DOGE license plate, a reference to the budget-slashing federal agency he currently leads on behalf of Trump.

“Parental Guidance,” warns the billboard, paid for by a group calling itself Overthrow Musk. “Tesla’s CEO is a far-right activist. Don’t give him your money.

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