‘You were warned!’: Tesla stock craters as Musk/Trump feud intensifies

The thing everyone predicted would happen has happened, but it’s still utterly hilarious. Donald Trump and Elon Musk are two of the most thin-skinned catty queens on the planet, and as sure as the sun rises in the morning, it was inevitable that they would one day have a colossal falling out.

But perhaps few predicted the ketamine-addled Musk would go so far as to accuse Trump of being a pedophile to his 220 million followers on X. The feud began after even Trump realized Musk’s DOGE was a lie, describing Musk’s claims about how much money it was saving as “bulls**t”. Then came Trump’s cherished “Big, Beautiful Bill”, which Musk promptly described as “a disgusting abomination”.

Time to drop the really big bomb:@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public.

Have a nice day, DJT!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 5, 2025

Now, with Trump hinting that he’s about to strip Musk’s companies of their many lucrative federal contracts, Tesla’s stock is in freefall, collapsing by a colossal 18% in intraday trading. It closed out at 14.3% (at $47.35 a share), in a stroke wiping out an eye-watering $181 billion from Tesla’s market value.

The end of Tesla?

This is just the beginning of Tesla’s woes, and we suspect the Tesla board is currently weeping into their pillows about what’s coming. Tesla has already had to endure huge global unpopularity after Musk donated $290 million to Trump’s election campaign, threw up a Nazi salute on inauguration day, and cemented himself as one of the most unpopular people in the nation with his DOGE antics.

That’s seen international sales plummet, with liberal owners now finding the concept of driving a Tesla in public incompatible with their values (also humiliating). The one tiny olive branch Tesla could cling to was that they’re now MAGA darlings, with Trump himself debasing the office of the presidency by hosting a Tesla infomercial on the White House lawn.

In a Musk v Trump situation, MAGA is obviously going to side with Trump against this weird, unfunny, and off-putting tech creep. So, if Democrats aren’t buying Teslas, Republicans aren’t buying Teslas, people in other countries aren’t buying Teslas, then who is?

Looming in the shadows is the prospect of Tesla facing increased and painful scrutiny from Trump’s government. For example, Tesla’s big new technological development (which they’ve been promising is right around the corner for years) is robotaxis without pedals and steering wheels, as well as full self-driving. The U.S. Transportation Department is in the process of deciding whether this is safe and whether it should be legal, so Trump has the power to undermine Tesla anytime he wants.

All of which means Musk has not only strangled the goose that laid the golden eggs, he’s reversed over it into a ditch, then incinerated the crushed remains. He’s now burnt so many bridges with so many people that it’s difficult to see any path forward for Tesla other than immediately replacing him as CEO. And, even then, the brand may be too toxic to redeem.