POLITICS NEWS – Elon Musk fights back tears, claims backlash against DOGE is hurting Tesla stock

Laila Kirkpatrick, Staff Writer

Tesla sales have dropped 13% in just the first three months of 2025, yet another sign that Elon Musk is struggling to attract buyers. During a Fox News interview, Musk fought back tears while claiming that protests against DOGE and Tesla were hurting the company’s stock, which has crashed in recent weeks.  Tesla was the leading electric vehicle maker, but is now seeing an extreme economic downturn, due to Musk’s role in the Trump administration. Many of those opposed to Musk’s involvement in the government have staged protests at Tesla showrooms in the U.S. and Europe. The EV brand is now also facing pressure from increased competition. Other eclectic vehicle makers have been making improved models, including China’s BYD brand. Tesla has reported deliveries of 336,681 globally in the January to March quarter. This is a clear decrease from 387,000 in the same period a year ago.

Dan Ives of Wedbush said that financial analysts on Wall Street predicted that the first quarter was likely bad, but ended worse than expected. Ives called the sales results a “disaster on every metric.” He went on to say, “The brand crisis issues are clearly having a negative impact on Tesla…there is no debate.” Nearly all of Tesla’s sales in the quarter came from the smaller and less-expensive Models 3 and Y, with the company selling less than 13,000 more expensive models, including X and S, as well as the Cyber Truck.