Trump checks out 'brand new' Teslas at the White House as he promises purchase to support Elon Musk

President Donald Trump viewed a variety of Teslas at the White House on Tuesday in a show of support for DOGE leader and Telsa founder Elon Musk.

The president vowed to buy a 'brand new Tesla' in support of Musk's 'baby' after showrooms featuring the vehicle, which can retail from $42,000 to $99,000, were attacked in protest of Musk's cuts to the federal government. 

There were five different models on the South Lawn for Trump to view, including the infamous cybertruck.

Musk joined the president along with his young son, X.

'This man is a great patriot and you should cherish it,' Trump said of Musk. 

Trump said he would buy a Tesla but noted he would not be test driving one because he is not allowed to. He said the Tesla would be used at the White House.

He and Musk sat in one of the vehicles. And Trump used the opportunity to slam his predecessor Joe Biden.

'You think Biden could get into that car? I don't think so,' he said. 

Trump said he was buying the red Tesla and that he would pay by check. 

'I don't want a discount,' he said. 

Musk said he would accept a personal check from the president. 

'His credit's good,' Musk noted. 

Trump spoke for about 30 minutes as he checked out the vehicles.  

He defended Musk in his remarks: 'I think he's been treated very unfairly by a very small group of people. And I just want people to know that he can't be penalized for being a patriot.'

He also shrugged off the declining stock market: 'Markets are going to go up and they're going to go down but, you know what, we have to rebuild our country.'

 Tesla's stock price has plummeted with Musk's new role. The company's sales have dropped. Musk reportedly lost $29 billion in a day because of it.

'It will be fine in the long term,' Musk wrote on  his X platform of the Tesla stock. 

Trump has been an ardent defender of Musk, who helped bankroll his 2024 presidential campaign. 

'To Republicans, Conservatives, and all great Americans, Elon Musk is 'putting it on the line' in order to help our Nation, and he is doing a FANTASTIC JOB!' Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Monday night.

The Tesla founder has bore the brunt of much of liberals' anger at the second Trump administration, with protests against his presence in the Department of Government Efficiency.

Anti-Musk demonstrations have erupted across the United States with protesters attacking Tesla showrooms with guns and Molotov cocktails. 

Tesla's stock price has dropped 45 per cent since hitting an all-time high of $1.5trillion on December 17, erasing most of the gains the stock made after Musk helped finance Trump's election victory.  

The president claimed that 'Radical Left Lunatics' are 'trying to illegally and collusively boycott Tesla, one of the World's great automakers, and Elon's 'baby,' in order to attack and do harm to Elon, and everything he stands for.' 

Trump also thanked Musk for 'being punished' despite 'putting his tremendous skills to work in order to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.' 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt teased the president's purchase in her briefing.

'He is going to be viewing a Tesla that is making its way to the White House complex,' she said. 'Tesla is on its way here now.'

She said the president would pay full retail price for the Tesla. 

Protests against Musk and Tesla have ramped up since the billionaire and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) began firing thousands of federal workers, including veterans, as it pushes to downsize the government.

Dozens of fired-up crowds assembled outside Tesla stores across the country on Saturday afternoon to protest against Musk's efforts to slash government spending and enact reforms. Demonstrations also erupted in London, Portugal, Malaysia and Iceland.

Roughly 250 activists were gathered outside a showroom in New York City, holding anti-Musk placards that read 'Block Fascism Now and 'Musk Must Go' as they shouted 'Elon Musk is not elected! Democracy must be protected!'

Five protesters were arrested for disorderly conduct at the Manhattan demonstration and one was taken into custody for resisting arrest, obstruction and violation of local law, The New York Daily News reported.

There have also been more than a dozen acts of vandalism against Tesla vehicles, dealerships and charging stations since President Donald Trump's inauguration, according to police and local reports.

A Tesla showroom in Salem, Oregon, was shot at with an AR 15-style rifle in February. Suspected vandal Adam Matthew Lansky, 41, is also accused of causing major damage at the same store with Molotov cocktails in January.

Similarly, four Tesla cybertrucks were set ablaze overnight at a storage lot in Seattle's industrial SoDo neighborhood, KING-TV reported.

Police in Oregon are also working with the FBI to investigate gunshots fired at a Tesla dealership in Tigard, outside Portland, last week.

While the motivation for the attack has not been confirmed, Tigard police said they 'are aware that other Tesla dealerships have been targeted across Oregon and the nation for political reasons'.

The shooting comes a week after federal prosecutors in Denver charged a woman in connection with vandalism against a Tesla dealership in Colorado - including Molotov cocktails being thrown at vehicles and the words 'Nazi cars' spray-painted on the building.

Also last week, seven Tesla charging stations that were 'intentionally set' on fire in Massachusetts, according to the Littleton Police Department. No injuries were reported.

Graffiti reading 'No Musk' and depicting a sign that resembled a swastika was also found at a Tesla dealership, one day after protesters gathered at the facility.

Meanwhile, DOGE has faced intense scrutiny in recent weeks for its chaotic handling of layoffs, particularly its firing of key federal employees only to attempt to rehire them later.

Among those affected were workers responsible for maintaining nuclear weapons sites across the US - a move that has raised serious national security concerns and Musk and his allies are now face mounting pressure to reassess their approach.

Musk at Morgan Stanley conference last week, compared his influence over the federal government to that of a 'corporate takeover'.

'To understand the federal government, it is like a corporate takeover at scale, but one where the company is actually in much worse shape than any commercial company could ever be,' Musk said.

Musk went on to say that 'logically we should prioritize anything that can reasonably be privatized', which is when he named the USPS and Amtrak - which he called Amtrak a 'sad situation'.