CNN
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Just as Wall Street got caught up in for the second day in a row on Tuesday, President Donald Trump chose to carry the odd sales of Tesla on the White House South Lawn, supporting the stock price and wealth of Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest man.
Trump’s optics respond with cameras like this to the stock exchange defeat that wiped out billions of dollars from American retirement accounts amid unrest over his trade war and unstable leadership. That was especially true given the public’s unrest caused by the sale that reduced the S&P 500 by nearly 10% from the high, and the fact that Trump has not achieved his pledge as a candidate to quickly lower grocery prices.
In the 2024 campaign, Trump appeared wearing an apron, working at McDonald’s Fry’s Station, riding in a trash can with an effective photo shoot fluorescent vest highlighting relatives with the failure of normal Americans and Democrat connections.
But by increasing fear of a recession — Trump refused to rule out twice on Sunday, an astonishing market, and the president seemed most worried about his fellow White House billionaires. Meanwhile, the top manager paniced as merely a symptom of the “period of economic transition.”
Trump stands with Musk next to the sparkling lineup of the electric car mogul’s pioneering models, denounced protests and threats targeting Tesla dealers to shred the bureaucracy and cut government spending.
The president accused Musk critics of “unfairly” and added, “You are not punished for being a patriot.”
However, the event raised questions about the country’s economic suffering and whether the president is being severed.
A new CNN/SSRS poll on Wednesday showed that 56% of Americans disapproved of Trump’s handling of the economy. His worst rating on this issue throughout the White House. The story is reversed with immigration, with 51% saying they are regaining the president’s approach.
Musk, the most powerful civilian within the modern presidential administration, faces boycotts and protests of his products when he chainsaws to the federal government. While most demonstrations were peaceful, police are investigating extensive reports of vandalism in several locations. Musk’s corporate market value has plummeted since taking on his polarised new role in politics.
But thanks to Trump’s support, and they have pledged to buy the Tesla Model S – Tesla shares rose 3.8% on Tuesday, heading in the opposite direction of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, immersing 478 points (1.4%).
Asked if his event for Tesla would raise the company’s sales and stock prices, the president said, “I want that.”
Sometimes, when Trump and Musk spoke of Teslas, they looked more like dealer front yard salesmen than the most powerful man in the world or his wealthy. Trump held a paper listing the prices of various models drawn by a Getty Image photographer who pointed out that the base model could be leased for $299 a month.
“Who else would this guy design this, and everyone on the road is watching it,” the president marveled in front of the cyber truck. Musk replied: “We want the future to look like the future.”
On a sunny March day in Washington, the president felt good and he joked when he made a joke on the press pool and staff. In a more ordinary administration, photography may simply be handed over as presidents who emphasize the greatest American company. For example, in 2021, then-President Joe Biden took a hybrid electric jeep that went through the White House grounds.
But it is a sign of how Trump and Musk shattered the usual ethical practices surrounding the presidency where this event took place at all. It represents an incredible conflict of interest for the President to make a pitch for the sale of products owned by members of his administration, who are in a position to shape government policies and regulations to benefit his own businesses. One reporter asked Doge chief if he would continue as Tesla’s CEO while in government. He replied that he would do so, as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world.
However, there are new indications that the prominent role of masks is to backfire with the public. In CNN polls, only 35% of Americans viewed positively about the tech giant, with 53% having a negative view. Approximately six in ten Americans say they have no right experience or judgment to change the way government works.
Trump’s Tesla event came on another day of head spinning exchanges with Canada, typically the volatility sucking market. The president had threatened to take 50% tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imports after Ontario Premier Doug Ford broached a 25% extra charge on electricity exports to Michigan, Minnesota and New York. The escalation was denied after a call between Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trump-style populist Ford. The president praised the prime minister as “strong” as he claimed that the other side had retreated.
SPAT is the latest in an extraordinary conflict between the Trump administration, one of America’s closest allies, and Canada, shattering the idea that two countries and Mexico could form a trade bloc to compete with the European Union and China. In fact, Trump once again claimed on Tuesday that Canada should become the 51st state. The prospects for an all-out trade war, and the other destructive policies of the president, who he sided with enemies such as Russia and rebuked his allies throughout the Atlantic, reminded him of the enthusiastic atmosphere that rattled investors. Trump, who did not rule out this year’s recession in an interview with Fox News on Sunday, was the market’s last straw. His unpredictable policy moves stir economic sentiment at completely wrong moments, as employment slows down and consumer confidence declines.
Diane Swonk, chief economist at KPMG US, compared the situation to a driver lifted up with a broken stoplight. “That’s what we’re seeing in real time right now. Swonk told CNN’s Erin Burnett. “We see it at a direct cost. We see it in every revenue call. People say, “We don’t know what’s going to happen with tariffs, so we can’t give guidance on where we’re going. We don’t know what’s going to happen at the boundary.” ”
But alongside Musk, Trump denounced the stock market losses with Biden’s watch, and he mistakenly said he “given us a terrible economy.” Trump added: “I think the market will be very, very bad,” he predicted that stocks would skyrocket when it took over last year.
Not only has many citizens scared of future retirement funds, they have made life uncomfortable for those already retired and with a 401(k) decline, they have scared many citizens, and there is no official indication that Trump is thinking of changing courses.
This prompts the question of whether Trump is serious about his desire to transform the global trading system and the US economy.
White House spokesman Caroline Leavitt argued Tuesday that the current short-term pain will be a distant memory when Trump’s policies come to fruition.
“What the president expects for this country is that the United States will become a manufacturing superpower, where American factories and businesses owned by Americans produce the goods we export to other parts of the world,” Leavitt told reporters. “These revenues will remain here. The wages of the people of our great nations will increase. It will guarantee our national security, raise the morale of the American people, and have an industry that will once again thrive.”
The goal of bringing jobs back to the US from a low-wage economy overseas is praiseworthy, and Trump’s plan to remodel the economy is to address the uneven benefits of industrial areas and globalization. These themes helped him win the White House election twice. There is no doubt that he is complying with the aspirations of his voters.
But this radical economic reshaping could take decades, and it’s not certain that large corporations will make expensive decisions to move within the four years Trump has left in the White House. In the meantime, tariffs that increase consumer prices can cause significant economic damage. And trying to replicate the economy of the 20th century in a new era dominated by the meaning of the artificial intelligence revolution could in any case be a retrograde gamble.
After his distinctive lack of explosion on the economy on Sunday, Trump is back to evoking a golden age. When asked about the possibility of a recession, he replied, “I never saw it.” He added: “I think this country will be a boom.”
But the doubts created by the President’s weekend ambiguity on the issue take time to dispel. And he did a better job on Tuesday than to be convinced that he had a plan to make him great again for his friend’s car company.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
