When Ilon Musk announced his retirement from politics, investors hoped that it would mean that he would intend his involvement in the many technology companies he was directing.

But instead of Musk focusing his interest in boosting Tesla’s luck and his other businesses, he is now threatened with boycott by one of his main customers – the Federal government of Trump.

Tesla’s shares fell 14% on Thursday after the fight against the US president. On Friday, however, they made a slight recovery, even so, for investors and analysts who, for months, had made it clear that they wanted Musk to leave his phone and return to work, the situation is far from being ideal.

‘They’ve been far behind’

Some argue that the problems for Musk businesses are much deeper than this controversy – and his controversial role in the Trump government.

For veteran technology journalist Kara Swiser, this is especially true for Tesla.

‘Tesla is over’told the BBC on the sidelines of the San Francisco media summit at the beginning of this week.

“It was an excellent car company. He could compete in the area of ​​autonomous taxi, but he is far behind. “

Tesla has long been trying to catch up to the competitor Waymo, who belongs to Alphabet, a parent of Google, whose taxis are driving on the streets of San Francisco for years – and now operate in several other cities.

This month, Musk is supposed to oversee the release of a batch of autonomous robotic taxi by Tesla in Austin, Texas. Last week, she posted on X that she was trying the Model Y without drivers. But with his attention focused on Trump, the chances of success in the project seem to be small.

And there is something else to be taken into account: the same Musk’s motivation.

The discussion at Silicon Valley lately focuses on whether Musk can overturn things and more on whether he even cares.

Tesla’s collapse

A special problem for Musk is that, before apparently creating an enemy in Donald Trump’s face, he already had one in the social media campaign against his automotive industry.

Protests, called #teslatakedown, have been taking place all over the country every weekend since Trump took over.

In April, Tesla announced a 20% drop in car sales for the first three months of the year. The profits declined by more than 70% and the share price decreased with it.

Another aspect of the Musk Empire that has caused the anger of its critics of X, the social networking platform that was once known as twitter.

“He bought twitter to influence and be able to – in one move – to reach hundreds of millions of people,” said Joan Donovan, a prominent misinformator who co -organized the #slatakedown protests on social media.

The personal brand

But could Musk’s intense dispute with Trump help him to restore the eyes of people who turned against him because of his previous proximity to the president?

Patrick Murgent, leader of Moor Insights & Strategy, believes he could. “We are a very forgiving country,” Murrent says in a telephone interview.

“These things take time,” he admits, but “it’s not unprecedented.”

Outlet

The problem for Musk is the future of himself and his companies is not only about what he is doing – but also what Trump decides.

And while Trump needed Musk in the past, not only to help fund his presidential campaign, he is not so clear that he needs it now.

Noah Smith, author of Noahpinion Substack, said that Trump’s extremely profitable invasion of cryptocurrencies may have released him from depending on Musk to perform his will.

“I guess this was done to escape the hands of the Ilon,” Smith said.

One of Trump’s most threatening comment was when he proposed a cut of Musk government conventions, which are estimated at $ 38 billion. A significant part of this warning goes to Musk’s missile missile company – which seem to threaten its future.

However, Trump’s warning may be a bit more hollow than it seems. This is because SpaceX’s Dragon spaceship carries people and loads to the International Space Station where three NASA astronauts are currently located.

It shows that SpaceX has been so highly established in the American space and national security mechanism that Trump’s threat could be difficult to implement.

But if there are limits to what Trump can do, the same applies to Musk. In the middle of his conflict with Trump, he threatened to decline the Dragon – but it didn’t take long to get it back.

It is clear that Musk’s and Trump’s friendship is over But they are not so sure that their dependence on each other is over.