Musk Shat His Brands

He shat Tesla and X in d’potty. They tanks.

Buying a Tesla has become morally obscene. Musk seems to ignore Tesla’s demise, but he is not misdirecting by that. He is refusing to speak about it. He is known for completely opaque ‘transparency.’ I see Tesla going further down hill.

The declining X user slumps but that base pales in comparison to the decline of X's brand and value. According to a recent report from Brand Finance, X's brand is now worth $673 million, down from being valued at $5.7 billion before Musk's takeover in 2022.

Tesla shareholders are being screwed as Musk works stock puts and calls with the tariff announcements and insider information. Given the speed of LAFS, Musk is doubling and tripling on his informed bets in days.

Who needs Tesla to be a money maker? Profits are way, way faster from insider trading, especially with Trump turning tariffs 180°’s in hours.

Worldwide. Anger. We need to boycott. We need picket lines. We need to egg Teslas on sight. Okay, forget the eggs…too expensive.

Musk has become the face of the Trump Administration’s illegal slash-and-burn government downsizing efforts, known as the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. The department has promised massive federal worker layoffs and aims to drastically reduce government spending. It is all illegal say our courts.

Analysts have said Musk’s shift to right-wing politics doesn’t appear to sit well with potential Tesla buyers, generally perceived to be wealthy and progressive consumers.

This week, the Musk Watch DOGE Tracker was launched. This new tool authoritatively demonstrated that Elon Musk had been overstating the cuts DOGE implemented. Musk is fraudulently ignoring court-ordered remedial actions. Material representations to Congress to get them to act: this is fraud in every state in this union.

While Musk claimed that DOGE had made $105 billion in cuts, the Musk Watch DOGE Tracker revealed that just $8.6 billion of those cuts were verifiable.

Within hours, Musk on X personally attacked the Musk Watch DOGE Tracker. Musk offered no actual critique of the Musk Watch DOGE Tracker's or its methodology. Instead, he is arguing that it is somehow hypocritical to claim that Musk is overstating the scope of the cuts and underplaying how the cuts are harmful. This is absurd. Sign up for the tracker thru this button.

Here are the facts:

1. Many of the cuts implemented by DOGE will have devastating consequences. By terminating various USAID contracts, for example, global health experts expect there will be "166,000 additional deaths” from malaria annually and "200,000 children paralyzed with polio" each year.

2. The size of these contracts, relative to the federal budget, is very small. Cutting them will not meaningfully reduce the budget deficit, while your public social responsibility through foreign aid is abandoned. I do not concur with these cuts. Congress funded these programs with public consent. You were just told to STFU.

Musk Subterfuge. NYT reported that after Elon Musk’s DOGE website was busted repeatedly for posting false info on the amount of cuts and various other things, he has now made changes to the site to make it more difficult to fact-check: “Previously when it posted new claims, DOGE had included identifying details about the cuts it took credit for. That allowed the public to fact-check its work by comparing its figures with federal spending databases and talking to the groups whose funding had been cut. This time, it did not include those details. A WH official said that was done for ‘security purposes”. Laughable.

It now nearly impossible to fact-check many of his claims on Musk’s website, after he promised that DOGE was going to be “maximally transparent.” That is Musk-speak for completely opaque.

International disgrace and consumer disgust are growing. Musk has ruined his brand. He does not know that the brand will never recover from this stain, unless he sells his ownership.

In addition to backing Trump, Musk has also shown support for the far-right, pro-Russian, anti-Muslim party in Germany, called the British prime minister an “evil tyrant” and called Canada — a major Tesla market —”not a real country.”

CEO Elon Musk’s electric carmaker Tesla faces boycotts and vandalism around the world now. Musk has destroyed all Tesla goodwill. I think it would be easier for Musk to simply post a sign in each country that says “Don’t buy a Tesla, your currency is that disgusting. Keep it!”

One of the worst single day stock sell-offs in Tesla’s history just happened this week. Tesla is stumbling this year with competition from rival electric vehicles, particularly out of China. Add to that with his close association with Trump and with far right causes globally. Bad vibes all around.

TSLA shares have plummeted 45% in 2025 and on Monday tumbled more than 15% to $222.15, the lowest since late October. This reflects newfound pessimism as Tesla sales crater around the globe. These sales drops have not yet been reflected in financial disclosures. Watch out! Musk is notorious for cooking the books. Expect shenanigans.

Trump d’Shill. Donald Trump’s efforts to help Tesla will end up hurting Tesla. The U.S. president said he will buy a Tesla. He won’t. Trump thinks that is a sales booster. Buying a Tesla now is a morally indecent. Those cars are being dumped into the used car market.

Trump’s actions draw attention to Tesla stock’s plunge, at the wrong time, Trump is turning off even more buyers. “Tesla is becoming a political symbol of Trump and DOGE, and that is a bad thing for the brand,” said Wedbush Securities financial analyst Dan Ives. “You think it’s helping, but it’s actually hurting.”

Numerous auto industry analysts have attributed Tesla’s recent sagging stock—and auto sales—to Musk’s support of Trump and other far right candidates around the world. In recent days, Tesla showrooms in the U.S. have been besieged by protesters, its vehicles vandalized on the street. Tesla owners, perhaps in a bid to avoid being targeted, have placed bumper stickers on their cars with messages like, “I bought it before Elon went nuts.” Many are selling the vehicles and washing their hands.

Tesla sales are falling in California, the company’s biggest U.S. market, and the company recorded its first annual global sales decline last year. Similarly, Tesla sales plunged 45% in Europe in January, according to research firm Jato Dynamics, even as overall electric vehicle sales rose. The sales numbers were particularly bad in Germany and France.

The latest auto sales figure from China show that Tesla sales there have been nearly halved from February a year ago, although the decline is largely due increased competition from domestic EV companies. But sales in the U.S. have fallen due to competition, and a country sharply divided about Trump.

This is a day of protest and celebration. They named Friday, March 14 as the first March on Washington, DC. Yay! Today is my birthday, but I could not afford to go to DC. It will be a multi-day effort, I bet.

Thank you for finding my voice. You have given it such place and meaning by just being here. And that is heart-felt sentiment from one who considers himself to be that little boy from Alabama that started first grade here in Dothan in 1955. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber. HotButtons is working very hard to become self-sustaining and needs to staff up and research harder. Comments are turned on for everyone. I want to hear the thoughts in solidarity, friendship, and for a common cause. Also, both sides need to be heard for understanding to become a bridge. We all should have affinity with that need.

The Road Ahead. Trump already asked our military to shoot our citizens on the streets, “Can we shoot them in the legs?”), but the military refused. Now he plans to arrest protestors. You know how far with this that Trump will go. The next fork in the road, no one knows what will unfold.

Grab a flashlight, we are at a dark fork on this American road.

Know where we are. Know what fork in the road is coming. We have serious work to do. On the streets, people. On the streets. We have no choice now.