Elon Musk spent the weekend at Mar-a-Lago with President Donald Trump, even receiving a round-trip ride on Air Force One. While Musk has been spending more time with Trump, three of his companies are facing difficulties.
Musk’s X platform suffered an outage Monday, Tesla shares plunged 15%, and SpaceX dealt with another rocket explosion. His net worth dropped $29 billion that day, per Bloomberg.
Amid these struggles, Musk has increased his political role, leading the Department of Government Efficiency—hailed by supporters as anti-fraud efforts and criticized as an unelected power grab. In a Fox News interview, he admitted balancing his businesses and government role is “greatly difficult.”
Despite his advocacy for “hardcore” work, his companies’ struggles highlight a key reality: Political favor doesn’t replace strong leadership.
Tesla slumps
Tesla shares plunged 15% Monday, erasing all post-Election Day gains. Despite the broader market slump, Tesla’s drop stood out.
Early Tuesday, Trump voiced support for Musk, announcing on Truth Social that he would buy a Tesla, calling Musk a “truly great American.” Musk thanked him on X.
While some expected Musk’s ties to Trump to benefit Tesla, the reality has been different. Sales are falling, especially in Europe, amid rising competition and Musk’s political involvement. Tesla has also faced protests and attacks, including arson and shootings at its facilities.
Musk blamed liberal activists, including donor George Soros, while Trump accused the “radical left” of colluding against Tesla. Musk remained optimistic, responding to concerns on X: “It will be fine long-term.”
X goes down
On Monday, X experienced widespread outages, with DownDetector logging tens of thousands of reports.
Musk claimed a major cyberattack was to blame, suggesting a large group or even a nation was involved. He later agreed with an X user who said, “they want to silence you and this platform.”
Cybersecurity expert Eric Noonan told CNN it’s too early to confirm an attack caused the issues.
Musk bought X for $44 billion in 2022, but Fidelity estimated last October that the platform had lost 80% of its value since then.
SpaceX’s exploding rockets
SpaceX’s first two Starship launches ended in explosions, the latest on Thursday, with debris visible for miles and causing flight disruptions.
January’s blast scattered debris over Turks and Caicos. Musk downplayed the failures, calling them a “minor setback” and promising a new launch in 4–6 weeks.
The FAA is still investigating.
