This week’s political fight for the country turned to the stock market as Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz parodied the collapse in share price of Tesla Inc. and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick pushed individuals to acquire shares.
“Buy Tesla; it’s incredible that this man’s stock is this low. On Jesse Watters’s late Wednesday Fox News program, Lutnick remarked on how never this cheap again.
With “Elon Musk the best entrepreneur and technologist in America, I bet on him,” the former Cantor Fitzgerald chairman and chief executive stated of the Tesla (TSLA) CEO. “I wish I had permission. I am not permitted to make stock purchases.”
Musk is among the most well-known personalities in the Trump administration and a major friend of the president, having central responsibility in the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or “DOGE,” and massive-scale campaign donor. But despite a backlash among some customers who dislike the South Africa-born Musk’s increasing engagement in U.S. politics and government, his electric-vehicle firm, Tesla, has seen its stock price fall this year. Still, Lutnick’s remarks made others raise eyebrows.
“Traditionally, we see administrations looking to boost American industry, and they will often focus on a handful of businesses as an example,” Jordan Libowitz, a spokesman for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, known as CREW, a nonprofit government watchdog organization, told MarketNews. But Libowitz notes a dramatic change in the Trump administration’s support of Tesla, as seen by Lutnick’s comments and a recent photo-op with Tesla cars outside the White House.
“They seem to be all-in on bolstering Tesla’s stock,” he remarked. “It’s quite rare when the owner or main shareholder works for the administration.”
Government watchdog Campaign Legal Center complained to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics and ethics officials at the Commerce Department on Friday over Lutnick’s Tesla remarks on Fox News. Regarding a MarketWatch comment request, the Commerce Department did not reply right away.
Trump personally has never particularly praised Tesla’s stock, but he did give the company’s electric cars high marks. “It’s a great product, as good as it gets,” the president remarked of Tesla’s vehicles during the recent White House photo-op, pledging to purchase a red Tesla sedan.
Early Wednesday, hours before Lutnick’s Fox News interview, Cantor Fitzgerald, his old company, increased its Tesla rating from neutral to overweight citing a variety of forthcoming events that would boost the electric-vehicle stock.
According to the financial-services behemoth Lutnick ran for four decades, the upgrade note and Lutnick’s media presence endorsing Tesla were unrelated. “Our former Chairman no longer has any role – formal or informal – at our firm,” Cantor Fitzgerald’s spokesman informed MarketWatch. “As always, all decisions regarding individual stock ratings and analysis are made just by Cantor’s Equity Research department.”
Lutnick’s remarks came one day following Tim Walz’s recent Democratic vice-presidential campaign joke based on Tesla’s declining share price. From their record closing of $479.86 on December 17, Tesla’s shares dropped 52%. Looking at the share price provides him “a little boost during the day,” Walz said, to crowd amusement, at a “People v. Musk” town-hall gathering Tuesday in Eau Claire, Wis.
Musk responded angrily on X, the social networking platform he bought, as Twitter, in 2022 following the dig. “Sometimes when I need a little boost, I look at the @JDVance portrait in the @WhiteHouse and thank the Lord,” Musk penned.
More than 340,000 likes have been generated on Musk’s tweet.
In an interview with CNN this week, Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna of California expressed his ongoing support for Tesla in spite of the flying barbs and denounced incidents of vandalism directed against Tesla vehicles and other company symbols and facilities.
“I am not going to root against Tesla; there are 20,000 people in my district who make a living off of this,” Khanna remarked. “They are creating ultimately beneficial electric cars for the environment. Regarding what Elon Musk is doing, I have really enormous issues. Organize the protest and the dialogue and criticism of Musk; avoid projecting this on a business with employees, engineers, scientists, [who] are generating wealth for the nation, so benefiting the climate.
“Focus on what the problem is with Musk, [and] don’t focus on the wealth of a company,” he said. Musk congratulated Khanna on X for helping Tesla’s workers and consumers.
Still, Musk’s behavior is alienating even some ardent Tesla investors, according Friday’s Wall Street Journal story. One, who bought the company’s shares five or six years ago following a Tesla car purchase in 2016, grew more dubious of Musk as the CEO dug further into right-wing politics, in the United States and overseas, particularly in Germany.
The investor, who called the White House exhibition of Tesla vehicles cringeworthy, sold his whole ownership in Tesla in March, the Journal claimed.
Musk’s DOGE job has seen him lambasted for the mass firings of federal employees; he has also come under fire for his candid social-media statements, often labeled as purposefully disseminating misinformation. Furthermore, others worry that Musk’s work in Washington detracts from his responsibilities as Tesla CEO. He also aids SpaceX.
As seen by the antitrans backlash against Bud Light (BUD) in 2023 and the more recent rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion programs at companies such as Meta Platforms Inc. (META), the polarization of American politics has permeated many spheres of society, including the business sector.
But today, this political polarizing is going from businesses and their activities to the stock market, and Tesla has become especially symbolic of the change. Along with Truth Social operator Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. (DJT) and crypto plays Robinhood Markets Inc. (HOOD), Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN) and MicroStrategy Inc. (MSTR), the company is solidly established as a so-called Trump trade.
Drawn from the archives (January 2025): Ignite the “Magnificent 7.” Since Trump’s win, these “MAGA 7” stocks have flown.
Among these “Trump trades,” 2025 has been especially active for Tesla – highlighted by demand concerns, in the United States and abroad; rising competition; and public anger against Musk that has even seen the Tesla vehicles and charging infrastructure vandalized.
