Trump gushed that ‘everything’s computer’ in his unofficial White House Tesla ad, and the mockery was visible from space

After Tuesday became Tesla’s worst financial day, with a 14% slump in share value, Donald Trump stepped in to manipulate the markets for his campaign’s biggest donor, Elon Musk.

The leader of the cohort that filmed itself pouring away Bud Light they’d already paid for, and swearing never to buy it again because a trans woman advertised it, described a boycott of Tesla as illegal. He also announced that he, despite not being a driver, would buy one the following day.

From Musk’s point of view, the President went one better than just buying a Tesla – he basically held a live Tesla promotion at the White House, where five of the electric vehicles were brought to show off in a press-attended event.

Not that Trump’s endorsement will necessarily prove helpful in the long run. We’ve yet to see stocks in enormous red ties or orange face paint go through the roof.

It appeared as though someone – we wonder who – had helpfully written down the talking points Trump needed to report on during the infomercial.

Things took a pretty worrying turn when the President signalled his intention to declare the people protesting outside Tesla dealerships to be domestic terrorists – a move unlikely to make it past the first lawsuit.

Trump’s reaction to seeing the inside of the car was almost endearingly uninformed.

Elon Musk’s description “It’s literally like a golf cart that goes really fast.” sounded like he was talking to his perma-present four-year-old son, X, but we’d guess that ‘everything’s computer’ wasn’t part of the planned sales pitch. It grabbed the internet’s attention.

These were our favourite comments.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

Tesla stock has rallied a little after the White House was illegally used to promote personal gain for a member of the government – another one for the constitutional lawyers to unpick – but the stunt suggests that the protests and boycott have spooked Musk.

READ MORE

Tesla stock is plummeting, and people just love that for Elon Musk – 21 nuggets of schadenfreude

Source Drew Harwell Image Screengrab