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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMaddowBlog-Trump turns White House lawn into car lot for megadonor Musk
Last edited Wed Mar 12, 2025, 01:14 PM - Edit history (1)
It’s easy to get inured to the corruption, but hawking Teslas on the South Lawn was among the most obscene events in White House history.
https://bsky.app/profile/stevebenen.com/post/3lk6q44t6wc2n
Link to tweet
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-turns-white-house-lawn-car-lot-megadonor-musk-rcna196000
It was a bizarre and unprecedented testimonial, but it was also a precursor of things to come. NBC News reported:
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. Tesla delivered five of its vehicles to the White House and parked them on a driveway for Trump to personally inspect, hours after he said on Truth Social that he planned to buy a Tesla to demonstrate his support for Musk and for the slumping company.
There’s never been a White House event quite like this one. The incumbent Republican president praised his megadonor’s vehicles as “beautiful.” He touted the vehicles’ prices. He complimented Musk for selling “a great product.” He expressed hope that Tesla’s stock price would go up. He picked out the model and color of the one he wanted. He heralded Musk’s patriotism. He even took a moment to express a degree of amazement with a computerized dashboard......
Traditionally, Americans might expect more subtle forms of corruption, with a president placing a few private phone calls to help campaign donors who need a favor for their businesses. Trump, however, threw caution to the wind, ignored norms and ethics, and embraced a far more brazen approach to corruption.
I suspect plenty of American auto manufacturers would love to get this kind of free publicity and unpaid promotional work from a sitting president — but they’re unlikely to get it. Musk donated $288 million to Republicans in the 2024 election cycle, and evidently, that affords him special treatment.
Hours after the event, the public confronted a predictable coda: The New York Times reported that Musk has signaled to the president’s advisers that he intends to “put $100 million into groups controlled by the Trump political operation.”
The Times’ report, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, added, “It is unheard-of for a White House staffer, even one with part-time status, to make such large political contributions to support the agenda of the boss.”

kacekwl
(8,065 posts)buys their 1st car together. Congratulations boys.
C_U_L8R
(46,636 posts)...the economy is going into the shitter in record time.
This could be the biggest self-inflicted wound in financial history.
Wall Street needs to run this clown out on a rail.
Norrrm
(818 posts)Ping Tung
(1,842 posts)LetMyPeopleVote
(160,077 posts)Celerity
(48,663 posts)flvegan
(64,845 posts)at least in my area is comedic. And the sheer number listed on AutoTrader that are also tagged with "Newly Listed" and "Recent Price Drop" warms my heart.
Jalopnik has a brief bit here, too:
https://www.jalopnik.com/1809520/tesla-owners-selling-cars-protest/
Why buy one new, unless you're a particularly dumb MAGAT.
LetMyPeopleVote
(160,077 posts)
LetMyPeopleVote
(160,077 posts)