Ten years ago, Republicans took control of the West Virginia Legislature for the first time in more than 80 years. One of the bills passed and signed into law in the 2015 session essentially banned auto manufacturers from selling directly to customers.
The law was an attack against electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla — which does not operate through traditional dealerships — and it was enacted for at least two reasons, if not more. Then-Senate President Bill Cole was the head of an auto dealership empire and likely didn’t want competition from Tesla. Also, Tesla and CEO Elon Musk were viewed at the time as heralds of a new age of environmentalism, offering vehicles no longer reliant on fossil fuels. Republican or Democrat, most West Virginia politicians have historically acted to preserve fossil fuel interests. Plus, there was a bit of a culture-war victory in there for the newly empowered West Virginia GOP by essentially banning Musk from doing business in the state.
As Teslas became even more popular (and Cole lost his bid for governor, ending his brief tenure as an elected official), the legislation became something of a self-inflicted wound on the state’s economy. Whatever culture-war victory was achieved also evaporated as Musk morphed from environmentalist to right-wing conspiracy theorist and became Donald Trump’s single-largest donor in the 2024 presidential election. Trump won West Virginia with 70% of the vote.
So, is Musk now a hero in West Virginia? Who knows. Seems like there are an increased number of Teslas on the road in the Charleston area these days, but that’s anecdotal evidence at best and certainly doesn’t prove Musk caused increased demand locally.
Musk’s influence was parlayed into an appointed role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency, which Musk has used to seemingly fire federal employees at random, while protecting his own billions of dollars he receives in federal subsidies. He certainly lost support from some who viewed him as an ally when job losses hit home.
As Musk became a sort of co-president, Tesla tanked. It got so bad that Trump did the equivalent of an infomercial in front of the White House, looking at several Tesla models and saying he’d buy one. Trump and the GOP have also decried protests against the company and tried to brand vandalism of Tesla dealerships as domestic terrorism, which is nothing short of insane. Sure, vandalism is bad. It’s illegal. It’s not terrorism.
In any event, Trump has tried to help his buddy out, and there are probably some people who bought Teslas because Trump sat in one or because of Musk’s status on the right. But Musk has essentially been acting against his main customer base for a while now.
Musk is the richest man in the world, but almost all of that wealth is tied to Tesla. The car company’s 50% drop in value since Trump took office has not only harmed the company, but, according to Forbes, knocked Musk’s own net worth down by $100 billion. That’s 25% of his estimated fortune.
Of course, as the past 10 years have shown, Trump’s favor is a fickle thing, and Musk now seems to be on his way out as the president’s odd right-hand man, as DOGE has turned into a disaster. The federal government has had to undo many of the department’s decisions, including rehiring employees fired to supposedly curb “waste, fraud and abuse†who turned out to be integral in operating important aspects of the government like air traffic control and tax refunds. Musk’s popularity in the U.S., and around the world, has certainly taken a hit.
Then, there are the tariffs. The punitive economic measures Trump is slapping on other countries as his signature economic policy are, as predicted, doing the opposite of what the president thought they would. So far, they’ve had a devastating impact on markets in the U.S. and the global economy. Musk is not a fan of the tariffs, as they increase the cost of production for Teslas, so that has caused a rift.
But Musk’s ultimate sin against Trump was his inability to secure a right-wing victory in a Supreme Court election in Wisconsin, despite dumping tons of money into the race. The very next day there were reports surfacing that Trump was tired of Elon.
So, it’s possible that 7 in 10 West Virginians have viewed Musk as a villain, a hero and then a villain again within the span of a decade. The magnitude by which things can change based on political allegiance in this day and age is truly strange.
