Humiliation for Donald Trump as Elon Musk’s Tesla profits nosedive | World | News

Tech tycoon Elon Musk blamed attacks by the woke left for being sidelined in his role as US President Donald Trump’s key lieutenant. The world’s richest man lapped up his role as a high-profile White House sidekick but has been forced to slash the time he spends as head of the cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency [DOGE] to plough his efforts into rescuing his ailing electric car company.

Tesla’s first quarter profits have tanked- a drop blamed partly on foray into global politics despite being unelected. It comes after a worldwide backlash with protests staged at dozens of Tesla showrooms across Britain. After demonstrations saw his brand targeted, South African-born Musk, 53, took a swipe at the movement, saying: “Based on the videos I’ve seen so far, the worst fear of the paid Tesla ‘protestors’ appears to be having to get a real job.”

Coordinated action took place against Musk because of his efforts alongside President Trump to slash waste and wokery as part of Tesla Takedown Global Day of Action.

The movement described itself as a grassroots campaign “to stop Elon Musk promoting authoritarians, disinformation and fossil fuels around the globe”. Its stated aim is to “finish the unelected centibillionaire as a political force by tanking Tesla’s still wildly inflated share price and thus his liquidity”

Tesla said quarterly profits fell by 71% to £306.7m from £1.04bn in the first quarter of last year. The company’s share price has plummeted by more than 50% since reaching a record high in mid-December and, ironically, is blamed partly on trade tariffs introduced by President Trump.

While electric vehicles are made in the US, the company also has factories that manufacture parts in China and Germany. Under President Trump’s new “Independence Day” tariff regime, those car parts are subject to additional taxes when they enter America.

Musk was the much-vaunted head of the newly-created DOGE, specifically tasked with slashing federal budgets in the US, including laying off thousands of workers.

President Trump said “radical left lunatics” were “illegally and collusively” boycotting Tesla, which he previously described as one of the best carmakers in the world. The action, Trump said, was meant as an attack on Musk and what he stands for and called those responsible for direct action “terrorists”.

At a recent show of support at the White House he said: “I’m going to buy a brand new Tesla as a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk, a truly great American.”

As a special government employee, Musk was limited to 130 days in his role at DOGE, but President Trump appears to have gone cold on Musk amid the global backlash.

Earlier this month, Musk, who has a personal fortune estimated at £270bn, scoffed at reports suggesting he would leave his role in the coming months, dismissing the rumours by using President Trump’s favourite phrase and calling them “fake news”.

The cuts he has overseen, regularly trumpeted on X, formerly known as Twitter and which he owns, included axing government jobs and caused uproar in America, fuelling a backlash against his company.

As well as his role as founder and chief executive of Tesla, he is also the boss of space exploration company SpaceX.