The former electric vehicle skeptic Sean Hannity has joined Donald Trump in shilling for Tesla as its stock price—and, as a result, its CEO Elon Musk’s net worth—takes a beating.
The Fox News host raved the manufacturer created the “greatest car ever invented” during a Tuesday night interview with Musk, which a Washington Post reporter said resembled Tesla “ad.”
“I think you know, it was pretty public that I bought one of your Teslas,” Hannity told Musk. “It’s like the greatest car ever invented. It really is, and I’m not just saying that. It’s self-driving, it’s got 1,000 horsepower, it goes from 0 to 60 in 0.2 (sic) seconds.”
Musk clarified it actually takes two seconds, not a fifth of one, to reach that speed. He was still pleased with Hannity’s assessment, however, emphasizing some Teslas can rival the fastest vehicles on earth.
“Still, it’s pretty fast,” Musk said. “That’s for sure. It’s faster than any Ferrari, for example.”
A still-fawning Hannity agreed and claimed his new S Plaid—the fastest model produced by Tesla, with a price tag of $85,000 after taxes and fees—is quicker than his Corvette Z06.
“I’m like, I thought that was the greatest muscle car,” he said of his Corvette. “No, it’s not. I watched the [Tesla] S Plaid beat it.”
Hannity purchased his Tesla just last week—shortly after Trump did the same in a stunt that turned the White House’s front lawn into a Tesla showroom. Hannity says he plans to give a Tesla away as part of a sweepstakes featured on his website.
Tuesday’s comments mark a massive change of heart for Hannity. He previously used his platform to rage against electric vehicles and the government subsidies its manufacturers received. Now, critics say, he may as well be a paid Tesla promoter.
“At this point, Tesla should probably be paying Fox ad money,” wrote Aaron Blake, one of the Post’s senior political reporters, in a post to X.
Others said Hannity’s praise for Tesla was the “cringiest” thing they have seen him do, with one X user suggesting he made the purchase just to get in Musk’s good graces.
“Imagine spending $50K+ on a car just to impress Elon Musk for one-second of acknowledgment,” that comment read.
Some of the harshest criticism came from the unaffiliated journalist Aaron Rupar, who wrote on X: “Hannity is turning his show tonight into a 60-minute verbal fellatio of Elon Musk.”
Hannity was slamming Democrats just last year for supposedly having “convinced” Americans they need to switch to an electric vehicle, regularly misrepresenting an emissions study to claim they were somehow bigger polluters than gas cars.
That was before Musk became a MAGA darling, however, shifting rhetoric that electric cars were an unnecessary Democrat-led initiative to now being a sound purchase. Such a shift may have boosted Tesla in the eyes of Trumpers, but its association to Musk has been blamed as the reason its dealerships are being seriously vandalized across the U.S.
Tesla’s stock has also tanked. The day after Trump was sworn in, it was trading at $488.54 but is now down to $232.34. Musk’s net worth has plunged too—so much so that SpaceX is now Musk’s most valuable asset. Forbes estimated Tuesday that his 42 percent stake in SpaceX is worth $147 billion—almost $20 billion more than his Tesla shares, in which he holds a 12% stake worth $97.8 billion.
Trump admitted himself he hoped his Tesla stunt would help its stock price rebound. He was photographed holding a notecard with Tesla facts that appeared like a car salesman’s cheatsheet and urged Americans to purchase more Teslas.
