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Getting closer to Trump is bringing the billionaire more trouble than victory...
Over Christmas, Elon Musk seemed like a master of the universe: a major financier and propagandist for Donald Trump's victorious campaign, which treated him as a co-president.
Charged with dismantling and rebuilding the state with lighter, more efficient structures, he seemed able to extract great advantages for himself and his companies from his new political role: old opponents of big tech – from Amazon's Jeff Bezos to OpenAI's Sam Altman – courted him while the value of Tesla's shares doubled in a matter of months.
The most intoxicating moment for Elon came earlier, on presidential election night, when Trump devoted almost half of his victory speech to praising him and his industrial genius.
But since then, trouble has begun for the entrepreneur who arrived from South Africa, starting with the fall in Tesla's value on the stock market. The markets realized that the alliance with Trump was not enough to hide the spirit of a company with very expensive models that need to be updated in the increasingly aggressive war with China.
While the global sales decline (the first in Tesla's history) can be attributed mainly to industrial factors (a 2024 decline of 1-2% versus a 25% increase in the global electric car market), the sharp drop in sales in the United States (-7%) and the January drop in Europe (-45%) indicate a decline due to Musk's political engagement.
The value of the Tesla brand has been eroded: in Germany, where Elon supports the AfD, a campaign was launched in which Tesla is defined as a swastika. Everywhere posters with Musk looking out from the roof of one of his cars, with his arm outstretched in the Roman salute: in February, Tesla sales fell by as much as -76% (while in France the drop was 25% in the same month and in China 49%).
Also, the proximity to Trump was not so useful on the artificial intelligence (AI) front: the president baptized the alliance between OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank. Musk attacked strongly, saying that they do not have the money to invest. Then the attempt to buy OpenAI by putting on the table 97 billion dollars and the humiliation of rejecting the amount.
America is watching in fear, as ministers suffer Elon's incursions without being able to say much because Trump supports him and, in fact, pushes him to be tougher. But Musk moves without any political caution, laying off essential personnel in various crucial sectors — healthcare, nuclear safety, air transportation, veterans.
In a recent meeting, Musk was backed against the wall by Secretary Rubio, resulting in a heated argument between them.
Then, at night, the latest adventure: as happened a month ago, another Starship spacecraft exploded a few minutes after being launched on a Super Heavy rocket.
The FAA, the aviation safety agency, has entered into conflict with Musk because it imposes restrictions on SpaceX, after being forced to block air traffic in a large area and close Florida airports due to the risks associated with falling debris from the spacecraft. / Adapted from "Pamphlet" by "Corriere Della Sera"
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