I'm not saying the messaging is coherent (heck wasn't that Trumps strategy as well). But there are many reasons that people pay attention to him and then go on

I'm not saying the messaging is coherent (heck wasn't that Trumps strategy as well). But there are many reasons that people pay attention to him and then go on to buy his products. There's no such thing as bad publicity. At the end of the day we're still here talking about him. Tesla's current problems aren't due to Elon being on the political outs with the woke in-crowd, but the fact the rest of the auto industry has largely caught up, and that the irrational bubble of hype around his products has finally burst. Combine with high interest rates and the other financial problems most companies are facing in 2023. That's the only explanation needed.