Just more than a dozen years ago, Republicans’ talking point was that the president of the United States should not have promoted a politically connected but troubled company.
When Barack Obama ran for re-election in 2012, GOP lawmakers seized on the catchphrase “crony capitalism” to bash him for giving a speech to workers at a solar panel manufacturing plant run by Solyndra, which had received a loan guarantee under his economic stimulus program.
After the company went bankrupt, Republicans argued that records showed the loan guarantee was rushed (true) and the company was backed by Obama donors (mostly false).
Now, in President Donald Trump’s administration, crony capitalism isn’t an attack line; it’s the plan.
On Tuesday, Trump sidled up to a shiny red Tesla Model S in front of the White House, clutching a handwritten note that said you could drive off in one today for “as low as $299/month.” The goal was to boost the company run by his biggest donor, billionaire federal contractor and special government employee Elon Musk, after its stock dramatically collapsed because of an ongoing boycott, uncertainty from Trump’s trade wars and poor sales of its ungainly Cybertruck.
Trump even wrote a check right there for the $80,000 car and said he would buy one for his 17-year-old granddaughter.
If a social media influencer had posted a video like this, the Federal Trade Commission might require it to come with the hashtag #sponsored and an admission that it was a paid promotion. This was “sponcon” on the White House lawn, to use the shorthand term for sponsored content. And it was crony capitalism for the richest person on the planet, whose wealth happens to be tied up in Tesla stock.
To be clear, presidents have long promoted American businesses. Teddy Roosevelt supposedly coined the Maxwell House ad slogan “good to the last drop” after having a cup, and Joe Biden once took a Ford F-150 Lightning for a spin, saying “this sucker’s quick.” (Sadly, the Ford Motor Co. did not pick that up as a slogan.)
But neither Maxwell House nor Ford executives worked in the White House. Neither made massive donations to a presidential campaign. Trump was trying to help his top political ally by using the White House as a backdrop for free advertising, like some President’s Day car sale come to life.
In fact, the closest precedent in U.S. history comes from Trump’s first term, when he posted a photo giving two thumbs up from the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office with cans of Goya beans and other products in front of him. In that case, too, the president was trying to boost a company facing a boycott over its association with him, as Goya’s CEO was in hot water for having praised Trump.
At least in that case, we know that Trump actually likes taco bowls. But this week’s commercial for Tesla came after years of bashing electric cars, which he has said will leave you stranded in the desert, “cost a fortune” and are only “good if you have a towing company.” He’d even specifically lambasted Teslas in the past, saying they “don’t drive long enough” and the self-driving options “crash.” Beyond just the cheap sales pitch, Trump had some chilling words that portend an even more serious effort to shore up Tesla. During the event, Trump ramped up his response to the spate of vandalism against Teslas in recent weeks, saying that “violence against Tesla dealership will be labeled as domestic terrorism” and that any vandals who are caught are “going to go through hell” for “harming a great American company.” Trump said that “radical left lunatics” are “illegally and collusively” boycotting Tesla. And in a Truth Social post Tuesday, Trump said that “radical left lunatics” are “illegally and collusively” boycotting Tesla. In Trump’s first administration, his staffers would have interpreted these comments as hot air. In his second, they’re far more likely to treat them as marching orders. His hyperpartisan acting U.S. attorney in D.C. has already threatened a private university for its diversity policies and a U.S. senator for a mildly inappropriate comment made years ago. And Trump now has a Justice Department that he hopes to turn into his own personal law firm. For now, it is still legal to exercise your First Amendment right to protest Tesla or simply refuse to buy its products. Ill-advised vandals will still be charged with misdemeanors in state court, not federal felonies that can carry a sentence of up to life in prison. And Tesla is still a private company that just happens to be owned by the president’s BFF, not the recipient of its own massive federal contract. But we’ll see how long that lasts, and whether any Republicans who lambasted Obama’s supposed “crony capitalism” want to stop the real version that’s happening right in front of them.
Ryan Teague Beckwith is a newsletter editor for MS NOW. He has previously worked for such outlets as Time magazine and Bloomberg News. He teaches journalism at Georgetown University’s School of Continuing Studies and is the creator of Your First Byline. 
