Elon Musk’s polarizing political actions since acquiring Twitter, later rebranded X, in 2022 dramatically hurt the automaker’s U.S. sales, underscoring how deeply its fortunes are intertwined with the billionaire’s persona.

The findings quantify for the first time how the political actions of the world’s wealthiest person – including his role in U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration – may have cost Tesla billions in lost vehicle sales while benefiting rival electric carmakers.

Tesla’s U.S. sales would have been between 67% and 83% higher, or about 1 million to 1.26 million additional vehicles, from October 2022 to April 2025, had it not been for what researchers call the “Musk partisan effect,” according to a working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research by Yale University economists.

  • Gates9@sh.itjust.works
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    13 hours ago

    He doesn’t care, there is nothing that can really ruin him financially, and the idea that he would ever be convicted for a crime is ridiculous as well.

    These people, the ones who have control over the major levers of power, they have completely insulated themselves from accountability, they are all psychopaths, and many are nearing the ends of their lives, so they are particularly nihilistic and dismissive of the consequences of their actions.

    • rumba@lemmy.zip
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      12 hours ago

      He doesn’t care

      Ohh but he does, he has a terribly thin skin. He’ll never hurt for money, but he’s deperate to make his mark on the work that isn’t branded an utter failure.

        • Gates9@sh.itjust.works
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          12 hours ago

          Eh, I dunno, none of that is really dissuading my opinion, and in my experience most “normies” still see him as a visionary, albeit an erratic and sometimes arrogant one. He has a “cocoon” of acknowledgment, and his place in the history books is ensured at this point.

          • rumba@lemmy.zip
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            10 hours ago

            The companies were good before he bought them. The only visionary thing he did was buy them. Every time he gets in there and starts flipping switches and pulling knobs, they become worth much less.

      • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca
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        10 hours ago

        unlike rescue submarines, traffic tunnels, hyperloop, Mars landers, electric semi trucks, his penis, tesla ventillators, FSD…

      • P1k1e@lemmy.world
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        12 hours ago

        And yet that’s all he shall ever be remembered as. The moment he’s dead, make sure every statue, plaq and memorial he tries having built is rusted always by some magical compound that rhymes with peach