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One interesting thing is that he seems completely unaware that he is the problem. Stepping back from DOGE to focus on Tesla again. He thinks that him getting closer to Tesla will help save the brand, when it's exactly his association with it that caused the damage in the first place.

The best thing he could do for Tesla would be to step aside.

> I called this Tesla stock crash months ago

TSLA is currently up 5% MoM despite really, really horrible earnings and outlook. The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent sometimes.

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I don't think stock prices matter as much to him (everybody knows there are lots of expectations baked in the price).
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Nor do I, I'm sure he's aware it's propped up on nothing but fumes and vibes. I was just commenting on OP wishing they had shorted TSLA months ago. Easy to say in hindsight, is all.
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I think less people care about it politically than you think. Most people I know who have Teslas stand by the product even through Elon’s dumb shit.

I think people care more about their own convenience. There’s nothing else in our market that’s even comparable. People talk a lot of shit and it wasn’t great to start but FSD is on a different level now, especially on newer cars like the new Model Y. Having a car that mostly drives itself is the best purchase I’ve ever made.

It doesn’t seem to be slowing down sales in Seattle. New Model Ys are everywhere here.

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Tesla once again tells its own CEO Elon Musk to knock it off with the politics - https://electrek.co/2025/04/22/tesla-once-again-tells-ceo-el... - April 22nd, 2025

67% of Americans would not consider buying a Tesla, new poll says - https://electrek.co/2025/03/28/most-americans-would-not-cons... - March 28th, 2025

Tesla sales fall by 49% in Europe even as the electric vehicle market grows - https://apnews.com/article/tesla-sales-recall-trump-byd-b6f5... - March 25, 2025

Tesla is done in Germany: 94% say they won’t buy a Tesla car - https://electrek.co/2025/03/14/tesla-is-done-in-germany-94-s... - March 14th, 2025

Australian Tesla sales plummet as owners rush to distance themselves from Elon Musk -https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/mar/06/australia... - March 6th, 2025

(own several Teslas, won't buy another)

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This anecdote doesn’t match the data.

It is definitely slowing demand. You can see it in the Q1 numbers and the discounts on vehicles.

You can ask anyone who buys used EVs in Seattle. There is a glut of Tesla sellers and not many buyers.

Like it or not, your car says a lot about you. People bought Teslas because they liked what they said and now they are avoiding them because they don’t like it.

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Having a car that mostly drives itself is the best purchase I’ve ever made.

ok, you can get that with a Hyundai though.

higher-quality, too, yet the Tesla costs more.

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Please don't comment like this on Hacker News. It breaks the guidelines badly. Please review them and keep to them in future:

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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Apologies for my shitty comment; too much doom scrolling and too much crappy 30 year old hiphop. And apologies for writing something that sparked more than a dozen child comments full of divisive crap. Looking back i wasn't really doing the HN comment vibe I'd like to see myself, indeed...
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Many thanks for the reply.
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No personal attacks please, no matter how wrong someone is or you feel they are.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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I recently saw a compilation of Democrat politicians doing the exact same "Nazi salute" over the years. Obama, Hillary, Sanders, AOC, etc.

Even the ADL released a statement saying that it was obviously not a Nazi salute. People are actually delusional. Extremely childish and idiotic.

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> I recently saw a compilation of Democrat politicians doing the exact same "Nazi salute" over the years. Obama, Hillary, Sanders, AOC, etc.

No, you did not. You saw a collection of Democrat politicians whose arms at one point were sticking out in the same position that arms stick out at the end of a Nazi salute. This happens all the time. I do it 3 days a week when making breakfast.

What Musk did was start with his arm down, rapidly raise it to his heart, and then forcefully thrust it out to the position usually shows in photographs of Hitler doing the salute. There are videos of Hitler doing that full hand to heart and then thrust gesture that almost exactly match Musk's gesture from start to finish.

When you track down the videos that the purported Democrat examples are taken from you will see that none of them did that. They were doing things like pointing, or waving to a crowd, or gesticulating while they talked, and in the midst of that their arms ended up in that position.

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Watch and learn.

This is what it looks like when you are waving to crowd or gesturing and your arm goes out without it being identical to a Nazi salute: https://x.com/ExposingNV/status/1881647306724049116?t=CGKtg0...

This is what it looks like when what you are doing is exactly like a Nazi salute: https://x.com/BartoSitek/status/1882081868423860315?t=8F0hL-...

If you think these are exactly the same, seek optometrist help.

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Response to GP:

Is your argument really so paper thin that you can't even attempt to defend it? You need to go straight to asserting that those who disagree are delusional? Makes me wonder if you even believe what you're saying or you're just taking comfort in repeating it, like an old yarn.

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There is nothing to defend. The National Socialists were defeated 80 years ago. That only exists in their imagination, not in reality. Anyone can go to YouTube and listen to the speech. Not a Nazi rally.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43819077

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He said "My heart goes out to you". Not "HEIL HITLER".

That's not a Nazi parade. The Nazis were defeated 80 years ago. They don't exist.

A lot of Jews support Elon Musk. Even the fucking ADL said it wasn't a Nazi salute.

Now show Hitler drinking a glass of water.

Drinking water = NAZI.

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Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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> What are the odds HN engages in speech censorship on viewpoints it doesn't like?

Funny you should ask but now's not the time to get into it.

Your comment breaches the guidelines.

Particularly this line:

> Get a grip on reality. Elon didn't cause any issues in EU policitcs.

Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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The comment I replied also breached the same rules: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43805821

Why wasn't it flagged? Thanks for confirming the bias and double standard selective enforcement on HN.

Be snarky against liberal views? Flagged for braking rules. Be snarky against unpopular views? Allowed and often upvoted.

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I saw yours first because it was recent, and your earlier comment was the first that started using terms like "crazy" and "mentally deranged". Sure, it's not ok for others to break the guidelines in replies, and I've now responded to the one you pointed out and others. We're not always going to have the time and patience go through a tyrefire of a subthread and scold every single person. Those who start or escalate flamewars need to take more responsibility.

As for bias: I've spent much of the past week and several hours today responding to allegations of bias in the opposite direction. I say to you what I've said to the others: we're not interested in ideology; we're interested in keeping HN a good place for curious conversations.

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I think people here lack reading skills.

The term mentally deranged I used was at those committing acts of vandalism and terrorism against innocent people's private property, not against someone in the comments here. This is clear to anyone who can read at 8th grade level.

Am I wrong that such vandals are not mentally 100? Am I breaking HN rules with this assessment?

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Yes, language like this is against the guidelines, whether or not it’s about people in this community. Also, in this comment you've broken at least one more guideline, and I can see other comments in your recent history that also break the guidelines, notably these:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43476769

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43475596

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43447800

These are just a sample from the past few weeks but there are plenty more that cross the line and have been correctly flagged by the community for breaking the guidelines.

Some particular guidelines for you to pay attention to are:

Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes.

Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive.

Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community.

Please don't use Hacker News for political or ideological battle. It tramples curiosity.

But all the guidelines are important to follow and they apply equally to everyone, no matter their ideological position.

We need you take care to follow them in future if you want to keep commenting on Hacker News.

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He was smart. Then he started using drugs. Since then, he's made a lot of mistakes. It's pretty simple.
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The fact that so many "climate activists" and environmentalists turned on him confirms my suspicion that they didn't think so highly about the earth or climate change in the first place. They care about partisan politics and their tribe more than the planet.
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Be wary of confirmation bias. I don’t find it unlikely at all that Tesla owners have sincere environmental goals that could be overshadowed by other concerns. Let’s afford each other the grace of being rational expected utility maximizers.
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He spent hundreds of millions to get Trump elected, so that now the EPA is gutted, the closing of coal plants has been halted, and federal lands are set to be drilled and mined into oblivion. This is what climate activists correctly opposed and continue to oppose in opposing Musk.
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He made cars that people actually like, that don't emit any CO2. But he doesn't signal from the right tribe, so everything he's done is worthless.
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Sorry if you cure someone of cancer, then shoot them in the head, you lose credit for the first part
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