Trump Tells Inner Circle That Musk Will Leave Soon

politico.com

25 pointsckastner4 comments

Tesla stock is up > 5% on this news even though Tesla's global deliveries dropped by 13% last quarter (https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/teslas-global-vehicle-del...)

Elon’s close association with the Trump Administration has not been the best thing in the world for the Trump brand; I can see the market seeing the end, or at least weakening, of that association as a positive move for Tesla.

The damage to Tesla's brand is irreversible. Musk has done literally everything in his power to alienate the core EV-buying demographic and the product itself is no longer unique or even particularly competitive. Maybe tariffs can prop up Tesla's auto business for a while longer but otherwise his only hope is for the MAGA set to suddenly pull an ideological 180 on EVs.

> The damage to Tesla's brand is irreversible.

I tend to believe that, while this may be a slight overstatement, the damage will take more time and effort to mitigate than it took to create, but even so, the market likely has priced in Musk continuing in his current role and extending the damage, so from that perspective a bounce back when it appears that the end of that is near still makes sense.

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