Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz expressed joy over the declining stock value of Tesla, a company that employs thousands of Americans, simply to spite CEO Elon Musk.
Tesla’s stock has dropped over 40% in 2025 so far, as of Wednesday morning. During a Tuesday town hall in Wisconsin, Walz revealed that he checks the value of the stock when he wants to feel better, according to The Minnesota Star Tribune.
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“Some of you know this, on the iPhone, they’ve got that little stock app. I added Tesla to it to give me a little boost during the day — $225 and dropping,” Walz said, receiving applause. “And if you own one, we’re not blaming you. You can take dental floss and pull the Tesla thing off.”
“I’m not a vindictive person or anything but I take great pleasure in the fact that this guy’s life is going to get very, very difficult,” Walz also remarked about Musk, the Tribune reported.
Tesla expanded to 47,000 California-based employees in 2022, according to the company. It was also the third-largest Austin, Texas employer, employing nearly 23,000 workers, according to information shared by Opportunity Austin, Austin American-Statesman reported in April.
However, the company also was slated to eliminate around 3,000 jobs both in Austin and throughout California, according to Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act letters and notices submitted in Texas and California, CNBC reported later the same month.
Tesla dealerships and chargers have been targeted with vandalism across the U.S. as the backlash against Musk has intensified for his role as White House senior advisor and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head.
Walz is currently on a town hall tour in red districts across the U.S. The governor told The New Yorker in a March 2 interview that he would potentially launch a 2028 presidential bid if the conditions and his “skill set” were right.
During a Tuesday interview on “This is Gavin Newsom,” Walz griped about criticism he faced regarding his masculinity while he campaigned to be vice president in 2024 on former Vice President Kamala Harris’ ticket.
“It just baffled me how much time they spent trying to attack me — that I wasn’t like masculine enough in their vision. Like, I would have never believed this,” Walz said. “I saw Fox News did, like, a couple days because I used a straw, and I’m like, ‘Hell, man, how else do you drink a milkshake type of thing?’ But they focused on it obsessively, which I think, again, is their obsession, their weirdness.”
“We buy their frame on these issues of sexuality, you know? But their whole thing was is that they spent all their time — these guys on Fox News — that Walz is gay, he’s not masculine, you know?” he continued. “And he doesn’t coach football the way he should.”
Tesla and Walz’s office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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