Elon Musk Can’t Stop Lying to Tesla Investors

Since Elon Musk bought Twitter, Tesla’s stock value has been cut in half. Musk’s reckless behavior—from reinstating far-right radicals and banning journalists, to haphazardly laying off workers, posting Nazi pictures, encouraging people to vote Republican, and alienating advertisers galore—has played a large role in the dramatic free fall.

And it’s not like Twitter is the only firm that’s been inundated by Muskian chaos. Tesla has been embroiled in numerous legal and PR issues related to rampant sexual harassment and racism in factories, to the company’s “self-driving” cars’ apparent propensity to spontaneously combust or run into pedestrians. It’s no surprise that investor confidence would be at an all-time low now that Musk’s attention has been split between the two troubled companies.

Musk himself has a dwindling commitment to the company he took over in 2008. He has sold nearly $40 billion worth of Tesla stock in a little over a year, mostly to maintain Twitter’s viability.

Naturally, this has all been to the detriment of those who still hold stock in Tesla. But in his attempts to massage those concerns, Musk has, in effect, been continually lying to investors, which in turn has only given these benefactors even more fodder to distrust Musk and flee the company.

Musk sold around $8.5 billion in stock in late April, pledging on April 29 “no further TSLA sales planned after today.” It was a pledge he couldn’t keep: On August 10, he sold another almost $7 billion. Once again he promised he was done selling, and once again, he reneged on that promise: On November 8, he sold some $4 billion; he cashed out another $3.6 billion on December 14.

In a Twitter spaces conversation on December 22, Musk pledged once again to stop the sell-off. “I won’t sell stock until, I don’t know, probably two years from now,” he said. “Definitely not next year under any circumstances and probably not the year thereafter.”

That someone as mercurial as Musk can be trusted to keep a commitment spanning the next two years is hard to believe, given his propensity for breaking promises—something that’s ticked up to a weekly basis since he acquired Twitter.

Now, the share value of the venture that enabled Musk to burnish his reputation as a prodigal tech genius is falling, with no end in sight, all at the expense of the Twitter acquisition—a pursuit largely driven by Musk’s hunger for attention, and his yearning to feel funny or well-liked.

If he’s just in it for the comedy, Musk can rest well knowing that many are surely reveling in the laughable absurdity of it all. Meanwhile, those most invested in Musk’s success—investors themselves—are perhaps reckoning with the idea that the best time to divest from Musk was probably yesterday. And that the next best time would be right now.

Over the holiday, New York magazine’s Olivia Nuzzi produced a compulsively readable dispatch on the nascent presidential campaign of Donald Trump, who has been largely holed up at Mar-a-Lago since leaving office. It’s a detail-rich endeavor, but one particular factoid jumped out: Trump apparently is a massive fan of Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard, in which Gloria Swanson cemented her icon status playing the role of Norma Desmond: a silent film–era superstar driven to near madness by her own keen sense of faded glory, and whose ill-fated comeback attempt ends in tragedy. 

A little too on-the-nose, you say? Maybe a lot on-the-nose. See if you can parse the fact from fiction: Which of the following quotes are from Sunset Boulevard, and which are from Nuzzi’s article? (Answers at the end.) 

1. “I did nothing wrong...I’ve done nothing wrong.”
2. “You see, this is my life! It always will be! Nothing else! Just us, and the cameras, and those wonderful people out there in the dark!” 
3.  “You know, these people forget.” 
4. “We always have known that this was not the end.”
5.  “We don’t need two cars, we have a car. Not one of those cheap new things made of chromium and spit, an Isotta-Fraschini. Have you ever heard of Isotta-Fraschini? All handmade. Cost me $28,000.” 
6. “I think I’ve always been relevant. Like, I’ve been relevant from a very young age.”
7.  “And who’ve we got now? Some nobodies!” 
8. “I’m seeing people all the time. I have a lot of people. I’m not isolated.”
9. “I believe I am overly generous, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. But sometimes it can make life a little bit more difficult.”
10.  “That’s a lie! They still want me!” 
11.  “You know, this floor used to be wood. But I had it changed.” 
12.  “I’ll show them! I’ll be up there again, so help me!” 
13. “I don’t need anybody’s advice! I don’t need any advice!”

ANSWERS: Desmond said 2, 5, 7, 10, 11, 12. Trump said 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 13. 

Representative-elect and apparent serial fabulist George Santos is back in the news, and he comes bearing even worse explanations than ever for the many noteworthy discrepancies in his biography.

The scandal-ridden New York Republican has recently endeavored to address allegations that he fabricated the bulk of his professional and academic resume, as well as details about his Jewish heritage.

Santos admitted Monday night that he had exaggerated his resume. “If I disappointed anyone by my résumé embellishment, I’m sorry,” he said in an interview with New York’s WABC radio.

But “a lot of people overstate in their résumés,” he explained, adding he still plans to take office.

While people may fluff their resumes from time to time, very few claim to have attended two different colleges or worked at major Wall Street firms knowing that no such documentation confirming these assertions exist, nor do they brag about founding a charity that was never registered with the IRS, or running an alleged multimillion-dollar company with no reported clients, website, or even a LinkedIn page.

Santos has also yet to explain how he went from reporting having no assets or earned income in 2020 to declaring he was worth millions in 2022.

But there are concerns beyond the fabrications on his CV. The right-winger has also said he is Jewish through his mother’s family, and has attended several Republican Jewish events. On this point, Santos has begun to backtrack after reports from Jewish Insider and the Forward showed his family has no Jewish heritage whatsoever.

His explanation is, to put it charitably, thin. “I’m Catholic, but I’m also ‘Jew-ish,’” he told City & State NY in an absolutely cringeworthy pun. “It strikes me as so odd that people are rushing to disinherit me … in a time and era where antisemitism is at [an] all-time rise.”

Democrats including Ted Lieu, Joaquin Castro, and Eric Swalwell have all demanded that Santos resign. Republicans, however, have remained silent, likely because they will need every vote they can get when they take control of the House, where the margins are razor-thin.

It’s unclear what will happen to Santos next, and it’s hard to say what, if any, repercussions he will face when he does take office. One thing, however, is clear: The New York Democratic Party failed to do basic research in him, and its stinging losses in the November midterms are growing more humiliating by the day.

The Senate passed a massive spending bill on Thursday, funding the government through September 2023. The $1.7 trillion package, which passed 68–29, must now pass the House of Representatives and then be signed into law by President Joe Biden. Congress is under a major time crunch to get it done, with the 2022 budget expiring Friday and the winter holiday weekend looming.

Although the bill left out several popular provisions, here are three major measures it does include.

1. Aid for Ukraine

The bill includes $45 billion in humanitarian, economic, and security aid for Ukraine as it fends off Russia’s nearly yearlong invasion. The funds will help arm and equip Ukrainian forces, as well as support an increase of U.S. troops in Eastern Europe and the defense capabilities of NATO allies. The money will also help replenish Defense Department weapons stockpiles, which are being used to supply Kyiv’s military.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited Washington on Wednesday, his first trip overseas since the war began, and called Congress to pass the aid provision for his country. He urged lawmakers to see the funds not as “charity” but as “an investment in … global security and democracy.”

The provision also comes a day after Biden formally announced an additional $1.8 billion in aid to Ukraine, including a Patriot missile system.

2. Increased protections for pregnant workers

The package includes two bills aimed at increasing protections for pregnant and nursing people in the workplace, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and the PUMP Act.

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act would require employers to provide accommodations for pregnant workers, such as more frequent bathroom breaks, the option to sit down during shifts, and permission to carry a water bottle around.

The PUMP Act requires workers be given the extra break time necessary to pump breast milk.

Advocates hailed the two measures, having argued that thousands of people lose their jobs each year because of the lack of accommodations for pregnant and breastfeeding employees.

3. Safeguards against another January 6

The package includes two provisions that will help prevent another attack like the insurrection on January 6, 2021.

The Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act reaffirms that the vice president has a purely ceremonial role in certifying the Electoral College votes and cannot overturn the election results, as President Trump urged Vice President Pence to do.

The bill, which has bipartisan support in both chambers, also raises the minimum number of lawmakers required for an objection to the results to move forward.

The second provision increases U.S. attorneys’ budget by $212.1 million for a total of $2.63 billion in 2023. The House Appropriations Committee explained the funds were necessary “to further support prosecutions related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and domestic terrorism cases.”

The FBI has arrested about 900 people connected to the insurrection but could charge a total of about 3,000 people when all is said and done.

As if being a Capitol Hill staffer wasn’t notoriously thankless enough, those who work in Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s office must abide by an over-the-top list of dos and don’ts, The Daily Beast reported Thursday.

Sinema is already deeply unpopular both in Washington and at home in Arizona. Her recent decision to switch her party affiliation to independent from Democrat has further ruffled feathers on the Hill. The Beast’s report is unlikely to do her any more favors.

Citing a 37-page internal memo and anonymous former staffers, The Beast wrote that Sinema’s exacting demands “appear to go right up to the line of what Senate ethics rules allow, if not over.” Aides allegedly are required to buy Sinema’s groceries (don’t worry, she pays them back) and be on hand at her apartment to let maintenance workers inside. If true, those tasks are direct violations of Senate ethics rules, which state that staff are not supposed to perform “personal or other non-official activities” on behalf of their bosses.

Aides also are allegedly required always to have a bottle of room-temperature water handy for the senator, who is apparently always hungry and thirsty because of her intensive athletic regimen. That regimen seems to take up the bulk of her time: The memo shows Sinema trains every day and is unreachable during that time. Races are scheduled into her calendar, and she requires an hour-long massage and two 45-minute physical therapy sessions each week. Actual senatorial duties, such as meeting with constituents, lobbyists, or donors, are confined to specific time blocks each week, and never after work hours.

Sinema’s office has denied the memo, which is several years old.

Since coming to Capitol Hill, Sinema has undergone an ideological 180-degree turn, seemingly jettisoning the progressive beliefs she previously espoused. She is notoriously private, rarely answering journalists’ questions. After she announced she was switching parties, the Arizona state Democratic Party accused her of failing to stand up for her constituents in key areas such as voting rights and holding major corporations accountable.