Musk initially celebrated his White House car show on Tuesday, but his posts on X eventually took a darker turn. By Wednesday, he was promoting theories that protests and vandalism at Tesla dealerships were part of a Democrat-funded effort to undermine him.

Ethics experts are sounding the alarm that the president's event with Elon Musk could eliminate the lines of proper objectivity from elected officials.

It’s easy to grow inured to Trump’s corruption, but his Tesla event on the South Lawn was one of the most brazen and obscene events in White House history.

Tesla now faces headwinds from the president Musk helped elect. Trump, a frequent EV critic, has called for scrapping EV subsidies and policies that have added billions of dollars to Tesla’s bottom line. Musk has dismissed the impact on Tesla of losing subsidies, saying rivals would suffer more.

February, one found 72% support a government agency focused on efficiency, but the question didn’t specifically ask about DOGE.