“The president is showing who he’s always been in politics for: the well-off and well-connected — all at the expense of the working people,” said Markus Batchelor, national political director at People For the American Way.
President Donald Trump purchased a Tesla at the White House on Tuesday in a show of presidential support for Tesla’s owner, Elon Musk, who is also a Trump senior advisor and head of the Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE. The move came amid several national protests of the carmaker — many of which have taken place at Tesla dealerships — in reaction to Musk leading the administration’s government-wide effort to slash the federal workforce and programs.
After shopping around several Teslas on the White House South Lawn, which almost resembled a car sale lot, Trump decided to buy a red Tesla Model S, which starts at about $80,000. While talking to reporters, the president denounced protests of Musk and Tesla, saying the tech and business entrepreneur had been treated “unfairly” and “can’t be penalized for being a patriot.”
Musk has become the face of government controversy as thousands lose their jobs and federal programs see massive cuts. Though the Trump White House has celebrated Musk’s efforts, critics have decried actions like Musk and his staff getting access to taxpayers’ sensitive data and making cuts they say are arbitrary and will do more harm to Americans than good. What’s more, Musk, a non-governmental special employee, has led efforts to freeze or redirect federal dollars that have already been approved by Congress.
U.S. Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett of the U.S. Virgin Islands lambasted Republicans for “abdicating their Article I responsibility” under the Constitution. She told theGrio, “[They] are giving it to Donald Trump and Elon Musk…they’ve taken direction from them as to how much money should be spent on different agencies, where the money should be spent.” Plaskett, who serves on the House Budget and Ways and Means Committees, said Americans “should be concerned.”
“While Wall Street and Main Street brace themselves for an economic catastrophe, the president stood on the White House lawn for over an hour with the world’s richest man, talking up paying full sticker price for a rolling death trap he’ll never drive,” said Markus Batchelor, national political director at the progressive advocacy organization, People For the American Way.
He told theGrio, “From tax breaks for the rich to tariffs on our closest trade partners, the president is showing who he’s always been in politics for: the well-off and well-connected — all at the expense of the working people.”
Democratic strategist Ameshia Cross said Trump’s makeshift Tesla showroom at the White House served as an attempted “distraction” from the U.S.’s economic instability, as evidenced by a tumbling U.S. stock market due to President Trump’s tariff trade policy war with China, Canada, and others.
“The shifts in the financial stability of America, as recognized by what we’re seeing from private industry, has really scared a lot of people,” said Cross, who noted, “in large part that was driven by Trump telling the truth at least one time that he couldn’t guarantee that Americans wouldn’t be hurt in offsetting the cost of tariffs.”
Cross said Trump’s Tesla showcase was also about optics. She explained, “Trump wants to re-establish with the media that he and Elon are still very close because there have been a lot of rumors and questions about which one of them is actually running the White House.” The political strategist also noted that Trump will need Elon Musk’s “cash” in several “tight districts” held by Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections next year to retain as many congressional seats as possible.
Trump’s apparent strategy to rehabilitate Musk’s public image and Tesla’s sales is beginning to work. On Wednesday morning, Tesla shares saw some gains.
But as Trump and Musk tout their wealth at the White House while also slashing federal jobs that propelled many Black and working-class families into the middle class, critics continue to point out the class divide in America between the haves and the have-nots. That is especially so for Black and brown communities amid a widening racial wealth gap.
Cross said billionaires like President Trump have built their wealth “off the backs of working-class people who never see those returns.”
“The average income of a Tesla owner is $150,000 a year. Those people who own Teslas earn a lot more than the median household income,” said Cross. “For Black America, it’s just under $57,000, and if we go into certain communities in Chicago and Detroit, in Atlanta, various Black cities across America, that average income, depending on your neighborhood, could be as low as $25,000.”
She added, “Meanwhile, [Trump] is flaunting his wealth…while America is wondering what they’re going to do.”
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