If you’re a Tesla (TSLA) investor, tranquility and low beta aren’t exactly the norm. It’s usually more of a roller coaster of stock moves, as was the case in 2025, with swings and a gigantic peak to trough.
Yet the stock hit a record high on Wednesday, fueled by the latest in its self-driving exploits, and is poised to beat the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC), Santa Claus rally notwithstanding.
There was no shortage of news that tossed the stock around like a rag doll, but here are three of the biggest events of the year for Tesla and CEO Elon Musk.
President Trump listens as Elon Musk speaks in the Oval Office at the White House on Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File) · ASSOCIATED PRESS
It was dubbed a bromance in the White House.
Musk’s backing of President Trump’s reelection campaign in the summer of 2024, for which Musk personally spent over $100 million, meant the two were connected in more ways than just ideology.
Musk was given almost exclusive access to Trump at the White House and Mar-a-Lago. Trump rewarded Musk’s loyalty by making him the head of the so-called DOGE, or Department of Government Efficiency initiative.
But things soon unraveled.
Musk went after Trump’s signature “One Big Beautiful” spending bill, claiming it was big on pork spending. But more importantly to Tesla, the bill removed the federal EV and emissions tax credits that Tesla collected, which were worth billions.
Musk’s strong critiques of the bill led to a massive falling out with Trump, with Tesla and Musk’s other businesses, like SpaceX (SPAX.PVT), caught in the crosshairs.
The battle between the two was too much for even Tesla bulls and investors, who saw the stock get pummeled.
“Very simply Musk diving deeper into politics and now trying to take on the Beltway establishment is exactly the opposite direction that Tesla investors/shareholders want him to take,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote earlier this summer.
Trump also responded to a feature of the bill that Musk privately groused over.
“It is a Great Bill but, unfortunately for Elon, it eliminates the ridiculous Electric Vehicle (EV) Mandate, which would have forced everyone to buy an Electric Car in a short period of time,” Trump said on Truth Social. “I have been strongly opposed to that from the very beginning.”
Musk threatened to start a third political party, to which Trump responded angrily. Eventually, the two reached a detente, with Musk’s handpicked NASA administrator nominee, Jared Isaacman, being renominated, which pacified Musk for the moment.
The problem is that no one knows when the angry Musk will return to politics.
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