We likewise saw it with Rudy Guiliani whose wealth has been reduced to essentially his home over defamatory statements made over the "stolen" 2020 election.

This is cult-like behavior. As much as people like to say Elon is the shadow president, I'm way more inclined to see him as a cultist rather than a leader or even a grifter. I could be wrong.

Tesla has long somehow defied gravity. At different times it's been worth over $1 million per car produced in a year. Its P/E ratio in recent years has been what? 250? That's a crazy valuation, particularly if you compare it to any of the Big Three or even, perhaps more appropriately, to BYD (P/E 30-50 in recent years).

The core Tesla customer base was environmentally conscious, college-educated, liberal-leaning and realtively high income. These are people who pay a premium to buy an EV because they believe in climate change. Yet this is the very audience Elon's actions over the last year in particular risk completely alienating. I think it's more than 90% likely that the CyberTruck will be discontinued in the short-to-medium term and it will never see mass production.

These are huge hits the company is taking and Elon doesn't have the control that, say, Mark Zuckerberg does over Meta. He can be ousted. I believe at a certain point not too far from now he will be ousted.

Really the only thing keeping Tesla alive now is American and European trade restrictions on BYD who, by all accounts, prodduce a far superior product at a far lower price point. Additionally, China is a key part of Tesla's supply chain so it's vulnerable there as Trump's tariffs and foreign policy further alienate China.

This week we saw Elon pull a SolarCity 2.0 where he engaged in accounting shenanigans to save Twitter from a margin call on his Tesla stock allegedly.

On paper he might be the world's richest man but I don't htink we truly appreciate just how close his house of cards is to falling around him. Add to this that if he has a falling out with Trump, which is a very real risk, it's only going to accelerate that.

[1]: https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/politics/mypillow-guy-mik...