Trump Pledges Tesla Purchase in Show of Support for Musk Amid Corporate Struggles

"I'm going to buy a brand new Tesla tomorrow morning as a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk, a truly great American," Trump declared on Truth Social after Musk spent the weekend at Mar-a-Lago and traveled on Air Force One.

The gesture comes as Musk navigates significant turbulence across his companies:

Tesla shares plummeted 15% on Monday, erasing all post-election gains and contributing to a staggering $29 billion reduction in Musk's personal wealth in a single day.

X (formerly Twitter) experienced widespread outages that Musk attributed to "a massive cyberattack" requiring "a lot of resources," suggesting involvement from "a large, coordinated group and/or a country."

SpaceX continues dealing with fallout from recent rocket failures, with debris from Thursday's Starship explosion visible for miles and causing flight disruptions.

While serving as head of the new Department of Government Efficiency, Musk acknowledged to Fox News the challenges of balancing his corporate responsibilities with government work: "I run my companies with great difficulty while also working for the Trump administration." Wedbush analyst Dan Ives called this a "moment of truth" for Musk, writing that "the word 'balance' has been missing with Elon Musk and his ability to run Tesla as CEO" as he focuses on his DOGE initiative within the administration. Trump has framed criticism of Musk's companies as politically motivated, claiming "radical leftists" are working to "illegally and collusively boycott Tesla" to "attack and do harm to Elon, and everything he stands for." Despite the challenges, Musk remains optimistic about Tesla's prospects, responding to concerns about the stock by stating: "It will be fine long-term."