With the high visibility of Musk’s DOGE role, there’s been a surge in public attention on his politics — and mounting hate toward his EVs from Trump critics.

That surge reversed four years of poor performance for Tesla's shares as investors soured on the EV maker's weakening fundamentals and CEO Elon Musk's serial promises of fully self-driving cars and an inexpensive mass-market model that proved an ever-receding horizon.