Tim Walz stood up on a town-hall stage and bragged about adding Tesla to his iPhone stock app so he could gloat over the company’s falling share price — a petty, public spectacle that should disgust every patriot who cares about American jobs and industry. “$225 and dropping,” he crowed, apparently proud to celebrate losses from a domestic company that employs tens of thousands.
It’s worth remembering that Tesla’s slide from its December highs was a market event, not a moral clue to cheer at. The stock had tumbled from peaks near $480 to around the low $200s, but the point is not the numbers — it’s a governor openly reveling in an American company’s pain.
Elon Musk didn’t take the insult lying down; he fired back on social media with a pointed jab that underscored who really has skin in the game. Musk’s clapback — invoking the JD Vance portrait in the White House — wasn’t just clever, it was the perfect retort to a small-minded politician who thinks virtue can be found in ruin.
Conservative voices like Dave Rubin quickly highlighted the encounter, playing the clip and making the obvious point: Americans should be backing the innovators who create jobs, not politicians who cheer their collapse. Rubin’s Direct Message segment put the episode in context and made clear why so many on the right see Musk as a champion of enterprise and free speech.
This isn’t abstract. Tesla wasn’t some faceless entity to be wished ill; it was an employer with tens of thousands of American workers whose livelihoods matter. The online backlash to Walz’s gloating was immediate and fierce — people on both sides saw the crassness of celebrating failures when families and communities are on the line.
What should frighten conservatives is the culture that applauds the weakening of American companies as if it were a civic duty. When elected officials start rooting for corporate decline to score cheap political points, they reveal an ideology that values grievance over growth and envy over entrepreneurship. That mindset is exactly why voters should be skeptical of career politicians who pretend populism while attacking the very engines of American prosperity.
Walz later attempted to soften the tone, but the damage was done: a governor looked small, mean-spirited, and out of touch with the people whose paychecks depend on private-sector success. Rather than leading and protecting American industry, he chose to perform for a crowd — a choice that conservatives should contrast with leaders who defend innovation and risk-taking.
Hardworking Americans recognize where real value comes from: risk, investment, and job creation, not political posturing. This episode should remind every patriot that we don’t cheer when companies struggle; we roll up our sleeves, invest in the future, and support the entrepreneurs who make this country great.
