Musk Melts Down as Tesla Stock Price Falls

On Monday, Elon Musk's X feed featured its usual blend of conspiracy-laden politics, criticisms of Democrats and government agencies, and content from accounts aligned with former President Donald Trump—who still favors his platform, Truth Social. But alongside these posts were several about Tesla, the electric vehicle company he continues to lead, despite dedicating much of his time to the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a task force slashing thousands of government jobs in its campaign to dismantle the administrative state.

Among Musk’s posts was a TikTok showcasing the design and features of a Tesla Model Y. He also amplified pro-Tesla statements from anti-LGBTQ activist Robby Starbuck and MAGA conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer. Over the weekend, he shared a clip from a Tesla fan account featuring the prototype of the Cybercab, a two-seater robotaxi the company claims will launch by 2026. Additionally, Musk reposted a video from a Cybertruck owner, expressing gratitude to Tesla supporters despite "many attacks against our stores and offices." His comment alluded to a series of recent fires at Tesla dealerships—some suspected arson—as well as showroom vandalism and gunfire damage.

Musk’s increased focus on advertising may be a response to Tesla’s shaky performance on Wall Street. On Monday, the stock took a sharp dive, plunging over 15% in one of its worst trading days since the company went public in 2010. The drop wiped out the last remnants of Tesla’s post-election rally, when investors bet on a company led by the largest Super PAC donor to President-elect Trump. Since peaking in mid-December, Tesla’s value has plummeted by more than 50%—a staggering $800 billion loss.

Several factors have fueled this downturn, including broader market declines and concerns over a potential recession. However, Tesla’s brand has become particularly radioactive since Musk’s deepening entanglement in Washington. His presence there has been marked by sweeping efforts to dismantle federal agencies, inflammatory rhetoric on X, and a widely condemned Nazi salute at an inauguration event. Last month, the growing backlash solidified into an organized protest movement called Tesla Takedown, which is spearheading demonstrations at Tesla locations worldwide, advocating for a consumer boycott, and urging investors to dump their shares.

Unsurprisingly, Musk has dismissed Tesla Takedown as an astroturfed effort funded by wealthy liberals, even going so far as to conflate the peaceful protest movement with violent attacks in which suspected arsonists hurled Molotov cocktails at Tesla dealerships. On Saturday, he took to X to claim—without evidence—that an unspecified “investigation” had uncovered financial backing for the protests from philanthropists George Soros, Reid Hoffman, and Leah Hunt-Hendrix, allegedly funneled through the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue.

Beyond failing to substantiate his claims, Musk also misrepresented how ActBlue functions—it doesn’t directly fund any initiatives but serves as a conduit for donations to Democratic candidates and progressive organizations. His accusations became even more dubious when he implicated two additional supposed financiers of Tesla Takedown, Herbert Sandler and Patricia Bauman—both of whom are deceased, having passed away in 2019 and 2024, respectively.

On Monday, Reid Hoffman pushed back against Musk’s unfounded accusations on X. “Just one more of Elon’s false claims about me: I never funded anyone for Tesla protests,” wrote the billionaire LinkedIn co-founder, who had worked alongside Musk at PayPal in the early 2000s. “I don’t condone violence. But it’s clear Americans are angry at him—it’s easier to explain away their anger than to accept that actions have consequences.”

Musk responded with a cryptic jab: “Describe your favorite island vacation,” a baseless attempt to link Hoffman to Jeffrey Epstein’s infamous Caribbean retreat. While Hoffman had past dealings with Epstein—like many powerful figures—there is no evidence he was involved in Epstein’s trafficking operation. In a 2023 interview, Hoffman revealed that Musk’s repeated insinuations had forced him to hire security.

Meanwhile, Leah Hunt-Hendrix did not respond to requests for comment regarding Musk’s ActBlue allegations, and George Soros—long a favorite target of Musk and far-right conspiracy theorists—did not publicly address the claim.

Elsewhere, Musk amplified a post from a Tesla fan account highlighting the historical ties of other automakers—such as Mercedes and Volkswagen—to the Nazi regime. In response to a post about actress Alyssa Milano trading in her Tesla for a Volkswagen EV, Musk wrote, “Alyssa Milano loves Hitler.”

He also engaged with a self-identified nationalist user who falsely claimed that groups attacking Tesla properties were “inspired by” Luigi Mangione, the alleged murderer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Musk’s response: “Wow.”

As Tesla shares plummeted on Monday, X experienced a series of outages, which Musk attributed to a “massive cyberattack” without providing further details. When the platform was operational, he seized the moment to amplify a conspiracy theory about a Sunday night fire at a Tesla lot in Seattle that damaged several Cybertrucks. A right-wing anonymous account falsely claimed, “TERROR: Multiple Democrat NGOs have coordinated attacks on Tesla dealerships, staff, and vehicles. Last night a number of Cybertrucks were torched in Seattle. Democrats are becoming increasingly more desperate and violent.”

Despite no evidence linking the fire to any political group—the incident remains under investigation, and no suspects have been identified—Musk shared the post, adding: “This is crazy.”

When it came to positive content about Tesla, Musk appeared willing to amplify even the most obscure X accounts. On Sunday, a blue-check user with fewer than 5,000 followers posted, “All the protests and stories of vandalism to @Tesla service centers and harassment of Tesla owners is insane! Let’s all stand together and push back against the aggression!” The post featured an image of the Tesla logo alongside the slogan “Stand With Tesla.”

Musk eagerly reposted it to his massive audience, but the show of solidarity did little to stem the financial fallout—by the following day, he had lost $23 billion.