President Donald Trump announced that he’s purchasing a Tesla to show support for Department of Government Efficiency boss Elon Musk. It was another promise kept as he explored his options and answered reporter’s questions simultaneously on Tuesday afternoon.
during a joint press conference at the White House with Musk.
“Number one, it is a great product- as good as it gets,” Trump said during the presser, describing his reasons for making the purchase.
“And number two, because this man has devoted his energy and his life to doing this. I think he’s been treated very unfairly by a very small group of people. And I just want people to know that you can’t be penalized for being a patriot. And he’s a great patriot,” he added.
Listen:
Number one, it’s a great product, as good as it gets—and number two, because @ElonMusk has devoted his energy and his life to doing this and I think he has been treated very unfairly… pic.twitter.com/6qrfwrbT0f
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 12, 2025
Trump did, however, bemoan the fact that he won’t be able to drive the Tesla he just purchased.
“I’m not allowed to drive because I haven’t driven a car in a long time,” he said. “And I love to drive cars, but I’m gonna have it at the White House, and I’m gonna let my staff use it.”
Trump purchased the Tesla to show support to Musk amid an ongoing boycott and veritable terror campaign against the vehicle manufacturer.
Asked about the vandalism and other attacks against Tesla, Trump vowed to label those who commit such acts as domestic terrorists.
“I’ll do it,” he said. “I’m gonna stop ’em. We catch anybody doing it because they’re harming a great American company. When you hurt an American company, especially a company like this that supplies so many American jobs that others are unable to do, when you do that, those people are gonna go through a big problem when we catch them.”
“We’ve got a lot of cameras up. We already know who some of them are. We’re gonna catch them. And they’re bad guys. They’re the same guys that screw around with our schools and universities. The same garbage. No, we’re gonna catch ’em. Let me tell you, you do it to Tesla, you do it to any company, you’re gonna go through hell.”
Listen:
Trump on labeling people attacking Tesla dealerships as domestic terrorists:
“I will do that. I’ll do it. I’m going to stop them … Those people are going to go through a big problem when we catch them.” pic.twitter.com/HXbNlFclsg
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) March 11, 2025
The press conference happened just as the New York Times published a report revealing that Musk intends to donate $100 million to Trump’s political operations.
“Associates of both Mr. Musk and Mr. Trump have talked in recent days about Mr. Musk’s planned donation to a Trump-controlled entity,” the Times reported.
“Mr. Musk has signaled he wants to make the donations not to his own super PAC, which is called America PAC and has spent heavily on Mr. Trump in the past, but to an outside entity affiliated with the president,” the report continued.
Fox News’ Peter Doocy, meanwhile, raised a valid concern during the presser by asking Trump about the contrast between him buying a Tesla and the American people’s stock portfolios crashing.
Listen:
(Video Credit: Fox News)
“What is your message, President Trump, buying a new car while there are some folks who will see this clip at home and they are struggling with their retirement accounts down at the moment? Uncertainty about work ahead?” Doocy asked.
“Well, I think they’re gonna do great,” the president replied. “I think our country had to do this. We had to go and do this. They’ve taken away, other countries have taken away our business. They’ve taken away our jobs.”
“I did it, initially, very strongly against — as you know — China and some others in the first term, and it was a very successful term. We had no inflation. We had the greatest economy in the history of our country. And then we had COVID, which we had to straighten out,” he added.
After the presser, Trump celebrated his purchase of a Tesla while appearing at a business roundtable discussion.
Listen:
‘#ElonMusk had four beautiful cars there, and I bought one in front of the press. It was a very public purchase, and they’re beautiful and do a great job’: #US President #DonaldTrump #Tesla pic.twitter.com/X6IcLGijMs
— The Times Of India (@timesofindia) March 12, 2025
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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