Pitchman president drives Americans to their corners

At the White House this week, there are events to pump up Tesla and cryptocurrency, as President Donald Trump pushes products and investments close to the hearts of his backers.Outside the White House there is backlash, particularly against Tesla, and Americans are showing an interest in boycotts.Left-leaning Tesla owners are turning against their electric cars as a protest against Elon Musk, who has evolved from backing Tesla to address climate change to helping elect a president promising to refocus on hydrocarbons and “drill, baby drill.”Musk needed the free advertising of a Tesla-only White House driveway show to halt the tanking of the company’s stock price. It was the least Trump could do after Musk spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to get him elected, according to FEC reports, and plans to pour $100 million more into Trump’s political operation, according to the New York Times.Musk and Trump’s mutual endorsements now taint Tesla in the eyes of many Americans — as does the fact that Trump has let Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency cronies run wild with cuts across the federal government and little transparency about what they’re doing.

Investing in MAGA

Donald Trump Jr., is part of an investment firm made up of like-minded MAGA conservatives looking to monetize their politics in a sort of “parallel economy.” The firm, 1789 Capital, got the opportunity to invest in Musk-owned companies, according to a Bloomberg profile. Trump Jr. said he has turned his back on opportunities where he doesn’t like the politics.“I’ve turned down major deals where the ethoses don’t align…There are people who have become MAGA more recently – and I don’t know they actually believe,” Trump Jr., told Bloomberg, which reported that since Inauguration Day, the firm has raised $500 million. Bloomberg reported that 1789 Capital will market itself to public pension plans in red states.1789 Capital describes itself as advocating an EIG investment strategy, short for entrepreneurship, investment and growth.It’s a play on ESG investing, which aims to prioritize investing in companies that care about the environment, social justice and open corporate governance. A conservative judge in Texas recently ruled against 26 red states and in favor of a Biden-era rule that allowed public pension plans to choose such a socially conscious investing strategy.Musk’s evolution from California-based liberal concerned about climate change to Texas-based libertarian coughing up serious coin for Trump and quietly slashing federal regulations tracks with a change in Tesla’s brand.A Columbia Business School study compares the politics and brand affinity of people according to their social media habits. In February of 2017, before Musk’s transformation, the study found Tesla to be more associated with people who followed Democrats on social media. By 2022, after he had moved Tesla and SpaceX to Texas as a form of protest against California, but before he had gone all in for Trump, the situation was reversed and Tesla was more associated with people who followed Republicans. It stands to reason that the transformation of Musk’s X to an echo chamber for conservatives has further impacted the Tesla brand.