Elon Musk responded to The Daily Show after it released a tongue-in-cheek “White House Tesla auto mall” advert following President Donald Trump’s purchase of a $80,000 Model S on Tuesday.
Despite being on a one-week hiatus, the late-night show took to Musk’s X platform on Wednesday evening to ridicule the event on the White House south lawn which appeared to be part press conference, part car promotion. The back-and-forth comes as questions remain if Musk will accept host Jon Stewart’s invitation to be interviewed on the long-running late-night show.
“Going on now at the White House Tesla auto mall, it’s the biggest sale of the year,” the narrator said in the spoof commercial, before Trump cuts in appearing to list the Cybertruck’s credentials: “It’s very safe, it's very strong, heavy. It’s all steel, stainless steel.”
“Come on down to Pennsylvania Avenue just off Route 29 to get our best deal ever on a brand-new Tesla,” it continued, with more cutaways to the president gushing over the electric vehicles.
“So don’t waste your time going to other dealerships with riots and flaming Cybertrucks, you've gotta come down to White House Tesla auto mall.”
Musk surprised his X followers in the early hours of Thursday morning and thanked The Daily Show for their promotional content.
“Thanks for helping sell Teslas!!,” he tweeted with a laughing face emoji.
“Tesla Takedown” protests have erupted across the U.S. in recent weeks, with showrooms besieged and charging sites vandalized. These incidents illustrate growing unease over Musk’s influence over the president and the administration’s aggressive efforts to shrink the federal government through his Department of Government Efficiency.
On Monday, the EV company’s share prices plunged by 15 percent, returning to their lowest levels since Trump defeated then-Vice President Kamala Harris in November and their worst day since 2020. It made it the worst-performing stock in the S&P 500.
In a thinly-veiled show of support, the president vowed in the early hours of Tuesday to purchase a “brand new Tesla” while taking a swipe at “radical left lunatics” staging protests against the electric vehicle company, attempting to punish Musk and his “baby.”
Hours after Trump announced that he was planning to purchase a Tesla, reports emerged that Musk was considering a $100 million donation to a super PAC associated with the president.
Later Tuesday, Trump transformed the White House's south lawn into a Tesla exhibit, showcasing five vehicles before he decided to purchase a deep red Tesla Model S, with a price tag starting just shy of $80,000.
Trump told reporters that Musk, who boasts a $320 billion net worth, had been treated “very unfairly” and that “he can’t be penalized for being a patriot.” Trump also labeled those vandalizing Teslas as “domestic terrorists.”
Last month, Musk said he would be interviewed by host Jon Stewart on The Daily Show if it “airs unedited.”
Both Stewart and Comedy Central appeared to agree to Musk’s conditions saying they would be “delighted” to host the South African billionaire.
Musk has previously called Stewart a “propagandist” who “used to be more bipartisan.”
Issuing a message directly to Musk, Stewart said in an episode of his show: “Look, Elon, I do have some criticism about DOGE. I support, in general, the idea of efficiency and delivering better services to the American public in cheaper and more efficient ways.
“And if you want to come on and talk about it on the show, great. And if you don’t want to, sure.”
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