I have been watching, with some grim amusement, Elon Musk discovering the limits of being just another political donor. While he was at DOGE, he literally could control the Treasury and DOD - he effectively had the IT reins of the entire country, and could simply gut things he hated at will. There was a price for that: it destroyed what was left of his reputation. But it was real, true power - being able to stop payments at will makes you more powerful than the president.
So much for that. These days, Musk is reduced to begging his followers on X to call their senators and congressmen [sic, obviously] to vote down the Big Beautiful Bill. His nominal reason is that Donald Trump's budget plan will increase the deficit, but reports indicate that Musk is annoyed an EV credit is getting cut. That makes it harder to sell Teslas in an environment where it's already hard to sell Teslas. Also, Musk may be annoyed that he didn't get to stay past his statutory limit as an unpaid advisor and that the FAA isn't using Starlink, according to Axios.
Even less powerful enemies can lead to political problems, which is why Musk doesn't get his pet boy in NASA
The cracks have been showing in the M …
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Serious question: The moment Elon lets go of Tesla or its key staff start up another company, should we support them again, provided he doesn't profit? As the purpose of starving Tesla was to hurt Elon.
Tesla cars are crap on their own terms. Bad manufacturing, bad serviceability, bad safety features (e. g. emergency door release).
I love tech. I even love tech just for tech’s sake.
But if I’m buying a car, I personally want to buy it from a car company, not a tech company.
...and those that support him and his fascism, racism, destruction of our public services, etc. As I understand it, most of the Tesla board of directors were chosen by him and are family members, friends, and supporters. So, yeah. There's a reason they have suffered Musk as he tanks the company with his toxic drug-addled personality and actions... Personally I'll consider doing business with such a company if they are all purged and the actual workers have a voice. So, probably never.
At this point, I'll buy BYD before I support Tesla.
Granted, I'm pulling for Rivian over pretty much all the others(here's hoping they don't have skeletons in the closet).
Any other strong, non-ethically compromised US based EV's?
No