WASHINGTON — President Trump committed to buying a red Tesla Model S on Tuesday as he tried out sitting behind the wheel of one in the White House driveway — saying he wants to support “incredible patriot” Elon Musk.
Trump said he thinks the arsonists who have been targeting Teslas to protest billionaire company owner Musk’s DOGE cuts are domestic terrorists and vowed to catch them.
“I’m going to stop them,” the president said at the photo op in support of Musk.
“We’re going to catch them, they’re bad guys,” Trump said of the protesters who have attacked Tesla dealerships and charging stations across the country.
“We’re going to catch you, and you’re going to go through hell,” said the president, 78.
Trump got behind the wheel of the red Tesla and promptly declared he would pay “full price” for the vehicle, which retails starting at about $80,000, although the version the president sat in appeared to cost more than $100,000.
Other Teslas on display in front of the White House were a red Model Y ($59,990), a silver Model X ($112,490), a gray CyberTruck ($144,000) and a blue Model S ($108,990).
Trump declined to do a test-drive of the red Tesla for the cameras but said he already bought a CyberTruck for his 17-year-old granddaughter Kai — calling it “the coolest design.”
He said he was “not allowed” to drive the Tesla while serving as commander in chief but that his staff would use the newly acquired Model S.
“I think [Musk has] been treated very unfairly by a very small group of people. And I just want people to know that he can’t be penalized for being a patriot,” Trump said.
“We have to celebrate somebody that has the courage to do this. He could have said, ‘I’m not doing anything. I’m not going to get involved. Let the country go to hell.’ He didn’t want to do that,” the president said of the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, which has been hacking away at federal agencies.
The car show served as a signal for Trump’s supporters to buy the electric cars — after former President Joe Biden snubbed Tesla from a similar lineup of unionized US automakers with smaller market shares for environmentally friendly offerings.
The Musk-led DOGE campaign has aggressively cut staffing and external spending at agencies across the federal government, prompting Democrat-led protests and attacks on vehicles and charging stations including arsons and other vandalism.
“We’re up to almost $500 billion worth of wasted, fraud and abuse,” Trump said. “We’re talking about billions of dollars being given to defunct scams.”
Trump said Musk “has never asked me for a favor.
“He didn’t ask me for this,” he said of the press event.
“It’s from our standpoint, American cars, American-made. He employs thousands of people,” Trump said.
“I ended the electric mandate. And I was waiting for a call. I said, ‘Did Elon call yet?’ … He never even mentioned it to me, never complained.”
Trump said Musk “has never asked me for a thing, and he’s built this great company, and he shouldn’t be penalized because he’s a patriot.
“He’s an incredible patriot, and I don’t even know if he’s a Republican,” the president said.
Musk told reporters that “as a function of the great policies of President Trump and his administration and as an act of faith in America, Tesla is going to double vehicle output in the United States within the next two years.”
Musk, also the CEO of SpaceX, recently authorized the social media platform X, which he owns, to pay Trump $10 million to settle a lawsuit over then-Twitter leaders banishing the president after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Musk is the world’s richest man, with an estimated net worth of more than $372 billion, according to Forbes. Trump ranks 755th with an estimated $4.6 billion in assets, the mag says.
