The Tesla Brand Redemption Tour Hits Another Snag
Last Updated on: 6th July 2025, 05:43 pm
Tesla CEO Elon Musk left his post as the head of President Trump’s “DOGE” budget-cutting office in May, ostensibly to spend more time selling electric cars. That was always going to be a tough row to hoe, considering the spiraling reputation of the Tesla brand over the past year. The brand restoration task has grown exponentially harder in recent days, as the brutal impact of Musk’s tenure at the White House has manifested itself squarely in Texas, the corporate home of Tesla itself.
Steering Tesla Straight Into Disaster
Texas became the corporate headquarters of Tesla after Musk transferred it there from California in 2021. It was probably not his intention to steer the company straight into one of the two states most-hardest hit by billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in the US, but that is what happened.
For the record, it wasn’t a case of leaving the frying pan for the fire. California is not among the two leading states for expensive weather and climate disasters. Texas leads by a wide margin over the next-most disastrous state, which is Florida.
Climate deniers gonna deny, but the numbers don’t lie. NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) has been tracking confirmed billion-dollar weather/climate disasters across the US since 1980, and the number has soared in recent years. The whole period from 1980 to 2024 averaged just nine such events per year. Over the past five years alone, the number skyrocketed to 23 events per year.
Texas has seen more than its fair share. In May, a team of reporters at the Houston Chronicle noted that 68 billion-dollar disasters hit Texas in the 2020–2024 period. Florida came in a distant second at 34.
As for what to expect in 2025 … never mind. As per orders from the White House, NOAA no longer tracks billion-dollar disasters.
“In alignment with evolving priorities, statutory mandates, and staffing changes, NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) will no longer be updating the Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters product,” NOAA advises. Though, past data is still available online.
If you want to register a comment about the change, NOAA provides an email address here.
“Staffing Changes” At NOAA
The “staffing changes” referred to by NOAA lead straight to Tesla CEO Elon Musk himself. After purchasing a seat for himself in the Oval Office with a reported $288 million contribution to Trump during last year’s election cycle, Musk took up the task of leading the former US Office of Digital Services. The USDS is a White House office created during the Obama administration to assist federal agencies with their computer-related modernization initiatives. In Musk’s hands the office became DOGE, the “Department of Government Efficiency,” a soul-sucking destroyer of lives and livelihoods across multiple federal agencies.
NOAA was among the victims, and it wasn’t just about “staffing changes” impacting the disaster tracker. A reported 15% staff cut was ordered across the agency, resulting in the emptying of positions at the National Weather Service (NWS) among others.
In addition to firing key staff willy-nilly, Musk also took on the responsibility of shedding property and workspaces from the government rolls. That also rippled out to impact NOAA. “DOGE has also announced it may terminate the leases of 19 NOAA offices across the country, including key buildings that maintain radar operations and generate vital weather forecasts,” CBS News reported in May. Plans for additional cuts at NOAA were also reported just last week.
The DOGE Chickens Are Coming Home To Roost
All this attention on Musk, DOGE, and the decimation of NOAA and the National Weather Service leads to the burning question of whether or not it is too soon to politicize the lethal flash floods that tore through Central Texas on Friday. So far, the confirmed death count has climbed to more than 50. More than 20 children are also missing from a summer camp overwhelmed by the surge of water.
Nope, it’s not too soon to point fingers. Officials in Texas immediately pointed the finger at, you guessed it, the National Weather Service. As reported by The New York Times and elsewhere, Texas officials have been quibbling over the amount of rainfall predicted by the NWS. However, the numbers are irrelevant. NWS did its job, sending out flash flood warnings on the evening of July 3 and into July 4.
The nitpicking over numbers was such a blatant misrepresentation of the facts that The New York Post — the Trump-friendly print equivalent of Fox News — was among those reporting that the NWS actually did issue flash flood warnings.
The Post also linked to Trump arch-nemesis NBC News, which provided a more detailed report. Despite the Musk chainsaw, the NWS offices closest to the impact communities were reported as up, running, adequately staffed, and fully capable of issuing warnings leading up to the storm, which they did.
“However, some top leadership positions were not filled permanently ahead of the event, after cuts to the federal workforce have left many weather forecasting offices nationwide short-staffed,” NBC reported, citing the legislative director for the union representing NWS employees.
The Tesla Brand Sat On A Wall …
Against this backdrop of human tragedy and DOGE budget cuts, over the weekend Tesla CEO Elon Musk decided to steer attention to the most important thing in the world, which is himself of course. On the afternoon of July 5, as the receding floodwaters left death and destruction in their wake, Musk announced his intention to form a new political party, to be called the “America Party.” No word yet on whether or not other parts of the Americas are to be included. After all, “America” covers a lot of ground. However, it’s a safe bet that South America, Central America, and Canada are not part of the plan.
No matter. Apparently, the whole point of the America Party exercise is to distract the attention of the EV-buying public away from the cratering of the Tesla brand, and recast Elon Musk as the leader of the loyal opposition — with Trump and the Republican Party among the targets.
Musk laid the groundwork for the break with the Trump administration in May, when he began criticizing Trump’s tax bill. That was too little, to late to help fix the numbers in Tesla’s Q2 sales report. If the America Party is the next step in the redemption of the Tesla brand, make some on your plate for a supersized helping of #fail. Leading up to and including his tenure at the White House, Musk left the barn door of brand reputation wide open and the horses are scattering to baggage-free EV brands.
Photo by Kyle Field | CleanTechnica
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