President Donald Trump posed with Elon Musk and five Tesla cars on the White House lawn on Tuesday in a show of support for the DOGE billionaire in the wake of recent protests at Tesla dealerships and charging stations and the plummeting of Tesla sales and stock.
Trump, who vowed to buy a Tesla, said of the world’s richest man: “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, and he’s a great patriot, and he’s also done an incredible job with Tesla.”
Champion golfer Phil Mickelson, who often shares his support of Trump and Musk on X, praised Musk for his DOGE work. Mickelson wrote of Musk: “It’s incredibly kind and generous of Elon Musk to help America become fiscally responsible. We all owe him a huge debt of gratitude.”
Mickelson added, “Nicola Tesla was unappreciated while he was alive despite his numerous contributions to humanity. I hope Elon is shown the appreciation he deserves.”
Musk replied to Mickelson: “Thank you.”
Thank you
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 11, 2025
Fans of Mickelson are showering the golfer with compliments including “it shows courage to speak up and not care what others think” and “those are very kind words, Phil. I hope he lives a long life and gets to see the appreciation he deserves before his time is over.”
Backstory: Nikola Tesla, the world-renowned electrical and mechanical engineer and physicist known for developing alternating current (AC) electricity, claimed he had perfected a so-called “death beam” right before his death in January 1943 — at the height of World War II.
Concerned that Tesla’s particle beam weaponry papers might fall into the hands of the Axis powers or the Soviets after his death, the FBI seized Tesla’s belongings and had MIT professor Dr. John G. Trump (President Trump’s uncle) analyze the papers. Dr. Trump concluded that there was nothing in them could be effectively weaponized by an enemy force.
Reporting on the findings, PBS quotes Dr. Trump:
“His [Tesla’s] thoughts and efforts during at least the past 15 years were primarily of a speculative, philosophical, and somewhat promotional character often concerned with the production and wireless transmission of power; but did not include new, sound, workable principles or methods for realizing such results.”