Headline Roundup • March 12th, 2025
Trump Buys a Tesla at White House, Calls Out Violence Against Dealerships
Summary from the AllSides News Team
On Tuesday at the White House, President Donald Trump bought a Tesla and called out violence against dealerships.
Key Details: To show his support for Elon Musk, Trump bought a red Tesla Model S at full price after Tesla delivered five of its vehicles to the White House for Trump's inspection. The Model S is listed on the website for $73,490 or $88,490 for the all-wheel drive. Because of ethical constraints, it is rare for a senior government official to endorse a consumer product, thought the White House has not commented on the application of ethics rules.
Key Quote: “Those people are going to 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 going to catch them. And they’re bad guys. They’re the same guys that screw around with our schools and universities, the same garbage,” Trump declared of people attacking Tesla dealerships.
For Context: Tesla stock tumbled 15% earler this week as experts lowered their projections for Tesla deliveries. The stock has fallen more than 50% since December.
How the Media Covered It: Some sources on the left framed Trump as using executive influence to help Tesla's business, positioning it as unethical. Some sources on the right noted that Musk admitted that he had "great difficulty" in balancing his businesses with his advisory role in the White House.
Written by the AllSides staff (of humans). Learn more. Support our mission.
Featured Coverage of this Story
President Donald Trump turned the South Lawn of the White House into a temporary Tesla showroom Tuesday in a conspicuous favor to his adviser Elon Musk, the car company’s billionaire CEO.
Tesla delivered five of its vehicles to the White House and parked them on a driveway for Trump to personally inspect, hours after he said on Truth Social that he planned to buy a Tesla to demonstrate his support for Musk and for the slumping company.
With Musk beside him, Trump declared the vehicles “beautiful” and in particular praised the...
Laure Andrillon/Reuters
President Donald Trump, in solidarity with Tesla owner Elon Musk, warned on Tuesday that protesters who commit violence at Tesla dealerships will be labeled “domestic terrorists.”
Asked by a reporter about authorizing such a label, Trump answered firmly: “I will do that, I’ll do it. I’m going to stop them.”
In recent weeks, Tesla locations in the U.S. have seen a string of attacks. For instance, a Colorado transgender-identifying man was arrested last month and charged with one count of malicious destruction of property after having spray-painted “Nazi” on a Tesla sign and thrown...
Violence against Tesla dealerships will be labeled domestic terrorism and perpetrators will "go through hell," U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday in a show of support for the electric carmaker's chief, his ally Elon Musk.
Shares of the automaker closed nearly 4% higher on Tuesday, rebounding from the biggest one-day fall in four-and-a half years the previous day, after the president appeared with Musk at the White House to select a new Tesla for his staff to use.
Activists have lately staged so-called Tesla Takedown protests to voice displeasure over Musk's role in sweeping...
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