Tim Walz says he looks at Tesla’s share price plunging to give him a boost through the day
Tim Walz has hit out in a brutal joke about Tesla’s plummeting stock prices (Amanda Stronza/SXSW Conference & Festivals via Getty Images)
Former Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz has joked that he looks at Tesla’s stock price plunging throughout the day to give himself a little “boost”.
The governor of Minnesota, who ran for vice-president last year alongside presidential hopeful Kamala Harris, made the jibe during a speech in Wisconsin, saying that the share value of car manufacturer, where controversial billionaire Elon Musk is the chief executive, was tanking as boycotts and protests grow.
“On the iPhone they’ve got that little stock app. I’ve added Tesla to it to give me a little boost during the day,” he said, in a video later uploaded to TikTok.
“It’s at 225 and dropping. And if you own a Tesla, we’re not blaming you. You can take dental floss and pull the Tesla (badge) off, I’m just telling you.”
While some people enjoyed his comments, with one TikTok user writing “I love petty Tim so much”, one person who didn’t enjoy the quip was Musk himself, who wrote on Twitter/X: “Sometimes when I need a little boost, I look at the [vice-president] JD Vance portrait in the White House and thank the Lord.”
It has been reported that Musk’s wealth had fallen by $148 billion (£114 billion) since 17 January.
According to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, he lost $29 billion (£22.4 billion) on 10 March alone, largely due to a sharp decline in his car company’s stock and investor concerns. However, he is still believed to be richest man in the world with his reported wealth standing at $342 billion (£264 billion), according to Forbes.
Many people put the decline in Tesla’s share price down to Musk’s controversial political views, including giving a Nazi-style salute at an event marking Donald Trump’s inauguration in January. He has repeatedly denied that the gesture was linked to Hitler or Nazism.
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