Elon “Felonious” Musk, aka Chunkmeister Supreme, aka Horsey Surprise, First (and I pray, Last) of His Name, Chief Monkey Torturer at Neuralink, Harem Master at SpaceX, Social Media Intern at Tesla, had been until recently only known to be an inveterate conman and scumbag to a relatively small percentage of the population, namely his professional, personal, and intimate acquaintances, and those who had taken more than 20 seconds to google literally any of his claims or promises.
But that blissful veil over the sight of the people is now being lifted, swiftly and harshly, by Elon’s very public “conversion” from fake Democrat to real Republican. Elon’s mouth-breathing cultists will tell you that this was a genius ploy to sell more Cybertrucks, conveniently forgetting that Conservatives are far less likely to want an electric vehicle of any kind, the daily humiliation of being seen by friends, neighbors, and colleagues in something as hideous as the Cybertruck, the existence of the Ford F-150 Lightning, and the fact that the Cybertruck is not in production.
On the other hand, consumers today who do desire electric vehicles, i.e. the more liberal sections of the population, have now such varieties of choice from nearly every car manufacturer under the sun that the compellence to select a Tesla because it was essentially the only game in town has almost completely faded. Now, given the chance to direct their dollars away from someone they have come to despise, a Trump-like figure who reminded them of gun support in the era of endless mass shootings and anti abortion rights when Roe v. Wade is under imminent threat, they certainly would.
Especially women, who would naturally be disgusted by revelations of SpaceX flight attendants made to train as masseuses to gratify Elon and his buddies in exchange for equines, manatees, what have you. If the lines and curves on Tesla mass market cars were designed to be feminine with the thought in mind to attract women buyers who had traditionally been more reluctant than men to embrace electric vehicles, that is now moot thanks to Elon’s permanent self-sabotage.
The last straw is likely Elon trying to buy Twitter, which any reasonable person cannot help but consider an arrogant billionaire’s bold-faced attempt to control public discourse to his selfish advantage. Whether he is sincere or not in his bid leaves a nasty taste in one’s mouth either way.
TLDR: The era of Tesla’s dominance in electric vehicles is coming to an inglorious end along with Elon Musk’s reputation.
Positions: Long dated puts.
P.S. Am I out of line in thinking that just one (1) more sexual harrassment revelation will force Elon out of the CEO position at Tesla, instantly sending its stock plummeting halfway to definitely-just-a-car-company valuation?
P.P.S. Tesla’s China position is also not secure, where it has no long-term advantage; it is just a matter of time before Chinese domestic brands outcompete Tesla in every category, and that’s not even mentioning the wildly unpredictable political risk of relying so heavily on the goodwill of an authoritarian, nationalistic state.
P.P.P.S. Vision-only FSD will never be a thing.
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