Elon Can’t Save Tesla By Leaving Washington

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Last Updated on: 25th April 2025, 09:21 pm

With Tesla’s disastrous quarterly results, it’s pretty clear that the company is actually in trouble. Despite years of poor product decisions (the Cybertruck is stacking up on Tesla property due to lack of buyers—something we warned you about in 2019), the company’s good decisions on things like powertrains, reliable charging, and reliable software kept the company going.

But, the company’s strengths could only compensate for so much. It turns out that having the company’s most public face go all in on America’s political and cultural warfare had predictable results. The Tesla brand went from a good environmental choice that came with performance advantages and tech fun to one that makes your neighbors wonder whether you think some of them belong in a Central American gulag.

In response to the company being self-decimated several times over, and disastrous quarterly numbers coming in, Elon Musk now says he’s going to spend less time in Washington, DC, and more time focusing on Tesla.

But there’s one little problem: that’s not going to help. At all.

You have to giggle at Elon as he thinks leaving Washington will reverse the 71% stock drop. Naw Big E. We hate you for LIFE now.

— Uncle Bob (@djjimmydee.bsky.social) 2025-04-22T23:44:42.991Z

While the above is just a post from one guy, you can find thousands of others like it.

The problem isn’t that Elon Musk failed to micromanage Tesla employees sufficiently. The problem is that his own personal reputation was tied to the company’s. When he soiled his own reputation by dragging it through far right mud, he took Tesla along for the ride. The problem isn’t that Tesla needs to be closer to Elon Musk; it’s that Tesla needs some distance from the guy.

The problem also wasn’t that Elon Musk temporarily changed his reputation in late 2024 by going all-in for Trump. He’s been getting in bed with far right causes since at least 2020, if not earlier in less public ways. Spending less or even zero time running a fake government agency won’t instantly clean up Musk’s reputation. To regain broad trust and appreciation among the public would require a sincere apology followed by years of work cleaning up after himself.

Backing off on Trump support might make for some small improvements, but to save the company, Elon Musk is really only left with one choice: leaving it. He would need to sever nearly all ties with it by resigning from his “Technoking” position, calling for a new board to be elected that aren’t his puppets, and selling more of the stock. A new, independent Tesla could salvage the company and get it back on track.

However, my opinion is that this will run into the biggest stumbling block of all: one man’s ego. An independent Tesla would discontinue the Cybertruck program and sell remaining stock at a discount to clear it out. The new Tesla would also reverse controversial decisions like removing turn signal stalks, producing overly minimalist interiors, and using janky cast metals for vehicle sub-frames. All of these moves would make the company better while proving Elon Musk wrong, and that would hurt too much.

The Real Problem: A Smart Kid Who Never Grew Up

Ultimately, that’s the core problem. A guy who was told he was smart as a kid built his whole identity around being right and having it easy. Most smart kids go through some hard times as young adults where they learn that they can’t always be right and need to put real soul-crushing effort in, but Musk managed to accrue fortunes before that could happen to him.

Now, instead of valuing diversity of thought and the intelligence of others, he surrounds himself with yes men and picks easy political ideologies that demand nothing but the right skin color and sexual orientation. He’s able to keep being the smart kid who can do no wrong by simply building a false reality around himself, spared no expense.

There’s still time for Elon Musk to spend the remaining years of his life learning to interact better with other humans, but it’s too late for him to save Tesla without distancing himself from the company while he works out these personal problems.