US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick went on Jesse Watters’ show and told the viewers on Fox to buy Tesla stock. We already watched Trump do this, using the White House as a backdrop for an infomercial for Tesla.
This Wednesday, we were treated to Lutnick doing the same thing while complaining about the recent protests and attacks on Tesla dealerships.
LUTNICK: I mean this is just so outrageous. You have probably the best entrepreneur, the best technologist, the best leader of any set of companies in America working for America, and you have this sort of weird side of the Democratic Party attacking him.
Let me remind you, he’s the guy who saved the astronauts, saved the astronauts, and he’s the guy who’s going to build the generation technology. I think if you want to learn something on this show tonight, buy Tesla.
It’s unbelievable that this guy’s stock is this cheap. It’ll never be this cheap again. When people understand the things he’s building, the robots he’s building, the technology he’s building, people are going to be dreaming of today and Jesse Watters and thinking, gosh, I should have bought Elon Musk’s stock.
I mean, who wouldn’t invest in Elon? Musk, you got to be kidding.
WATTERS: All right, so you’re calling the bottom.
LUTNICK: This is it. Whether today is the bottom or not, I tell you what, Elon Musk is probably the best person to bet on I’ve ever met, and I think we all know that.
I mean, gosh, in the same week that he saves astronauts with his rockets that he invented, imagine that, he’s building, he’s building the coolest robots you’ve ever seen.
Go online and look up Optimus. It is the coolest thing you’ve ever seen. We’re all going to be buying robots. They’re going to cost about $30,000.
You’re going to be buying a Tesla robot, and anybody who doesn’t buy a Tesla robot is going to be silly. No one’s going to be keying anything.
Elon Musk is the best entrepreneur and technologist in America, and I bet on him. I wish I was allowed. As Secretary, I’m not allowed to buy any stock.
The two continued gloating about Musk and how they’re both going to have five of his robots when they come out in 2028.
As Daniel Hampton at Raw Story reported, people were quick to point out that what Lutnick did may very well be illegal (We all know laws don’t matter to this administration though).
“This is illegal,” wrote Democratic strategist Chris D. Jackson on X.
“When Kellyanne Conway encouraged Fox viewers to buy Ivanka Trump’s clothing line, the top Oversight REPUBLICAN called it ‘wrong’ and asked the U.S. Office of Government Ethics to look into it. Tonight, the Commerce Secretary on Fox encouraged people to buy Tesla stock,” noted Sam Stein of The Bulwark.
“If this cabinet secretary himself owns any of the stock he’s touting on TV, he’s probably committed a serious ethics offense. If he doesn’t own the stock himself, then he probably hasn’t broken any laws, but is engaged in a shameful breach of trust with the audience watching,” chided David Frum of The Atlantic.
“This is like Gina Raimondo going on MSNBC and telling people to buy Hunter Biden’s paintings, only if Hunter was the unelected co-president and not a private citizen,” wrote independent journalist Aaron Rupar on X.
“This seems highly illegal,” opined the PatriotTakes account on X.
