We Are in the 7th Inning of Elon Musk
Trump has started his hints of an exit
Trump has started his not subtle hints that this marriage of convenience may be coming to an end in the not too distant future. There were hints things were starting to unwind a few weeks ago, which I documented here, but likely Musk realized this too, and made a massive $100 million donation, not to his PAC, but to Trump’s political operation. This bought him, literally, some time and goodwill.
Yesterday we closed out the first quarter. A disastrous one for both Tesla stock and the U.S. economy. Tesla stock plunged 36% in the first quarter, its worst performance since 2022, as analysts are picking up on the issue that Musk’s work at DOGE has alienated the same folks who buy his cars! As CNN’s Harry Enten noted, Musk’s approval with Democrats has “fallen through the floor” to a net approval of -91. Good luck with getting them to buy a new Tesla! March also marked the worst month for the U.S. stock market since 2022, on the back of Trump’s tariffs and the uncertainty he has created. As we’ve also been tracking, consumer confidence is plummeting.
Lest we forget, Trump ran on the economy and immigration.
Trump has been doing his best to throw his base some red meat on immigration to distract from how abysmal things are for the economy. He’s done some cruel and likely illegal stuff along the way. As I have written, he has already distanced himself from any consequences of legal blowback, by sticking it all on Little Marco. I wrote about his throwing Rubio under the bus here.
Which leaves us with the economy.