At the beginning of the new year, a Tesla electric pickup truck suddenly exploded, and the explosion location was a luxury hotel owned by Trump. Tesla, Cybertruck, Trump Hotel, these many traffic passwords and key elements came together and suddenly became the biggest hot spots on social media, making people speculate about the intentions behind them.
Tesla pickup truck bombs Trump hotel
At 8:30 a.m. local time on January 1, the United States, the casino city of Las Vegas was still in a quiet early morning atmosphere. At the entrance of the Trump International Hotel lobby, a Tesla electric pickup truck Cybertruck suddenly exploded just after parking. The scene instantly burst into flames and burst into flames. The driver died on the spot in the car, and seven others suffered varying degrees of minor injuries.
Although the official conclusion of the investigation has not yet been announced, the outside world generally suspects that this is another terrorist attack. Because just the day before, a terrorist attack occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana, the United States. A Ford F-150 pickup truck drove into the festival crowd at high speed and crushed it wildly, killing 15 people and injuring dozens more. The suspect was shot dead by police after getting out of the car, and a terrorist flag was found in the car. This is a common attack method used by terrorists in Europe.
Judging from the surveillance video, the Las Vegas explosion was obviously not a common battery explosion accident caused by a violent impact of an electric vehicle. The Cybertruck showed no obvious signs of damage. The scene was more like the scene after explosives in the car were detonated. Investigators found a large number of fireworks in the bed of the pickup truck. That makes sense, since New Year's is the peak season for fireworks sales.
The 64-story Trump International Hotel is located on the Strip, the most prosperous core business district in Las Vegas. It is an important property of the Trump family group and is currently directly managed by Trump’s second son, Eric Trump. It's worth mentioning that although Las Vegas is filled with casinos, the Trump International Hotel has no gambling operations, making it a quiet luxury choice for business travelers.
After the Trump Hotel was bombed, Trump Hotel business leader and second son Eric issued a statement thanking the law enforcement and fire departments for their timely response and professionalism, emphasizing that Trump Hotels always regards the safety and well-being of guests and employees as its top priority. What is intriguing is that he deliberately did not mention Tesla, but used "an electric car" to vaguely refer to the suspect's vehicle.
It was actually done by a model soldier on active duty.
Whether the Las Vegas bombing was a suicide bombing remains to be determined by an official investigation. However, the attackers probably did not want to assassinate Trump and Musk. Because neither Musk nor Trump will appear in a Las Vegas hotel, they have already made plans to spend the New Year at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
Las Vegas Police Chief Kevin McMahill did not rule out the possibility of a terrorist attack. "This was a Tesla pickup truck that struck a Trump hotel, and we all know that Musk is working with Trump. So there are obviously concerns and we are continuing to investigate that."
Late on Wednesday local time, the FBI announced preliminary findings that the suspect who was killed in the car was Matthew Alan Livelsberger, a 37-year-old U.S. Army Special Forces soldier from Colorado. He had served in the U.S. Army for 19 years and had served overseas in Afghanistan, Congo and other places, and had recently returned to the United States for vacation.
Investigation showed that Riversberg rented the Tesla pickup truck from the car rental platform Turo in Colorado, arrived in Las Vegas at 7:30 a.m. on January 1, and then drove to the guest parking area of the Trump Hotel. The explosion occurred 20 seconds after parking. There were a large number of gas canisters and fireworks inside the car, which was the main cause of the explosion.
What is puzzling is that Riversberg had no previous criminal record, had performed well during his service, and had been awarded the Bronze Star Medal for outstanding performance. Moreover, Riversberg is a white man born and raised in the United States. The specific motive of why he came to Las Vegas with so many explosives remains to be investigated.
After the explosion, Tesla actively cooperated with the FBI's investigation and provided a lot of information about the exploding vehicle itself and the charging station, helping the FBI quickly determine the source of the exploding vehicle. Because the suspect drove nearly 1,000 kilometers from Colorado to Las Vegas and had to stop for charging at least three times along the way, he left footprints at Tesla supercharging stations.
On the other hand, car rental platform Turo issued a statement saying that it was cooperating with the police investigation. The two car renters involved in the Las Vegas bombing and New Orleans attack had no previous criminal records and were not considered security threats. Federal investigators have so far found no connection between the Las Vegas bombing and the New Orleans terrorist attack.
Musk is anxious to clarify vehicle responsibilities
As Tesla CEO and Trump's closest associate, Musk is of course highly nervous and concerned about the incident where his electric car bombed Trump's hotel. After the explosion, he spoke continuously on his X platform (previously on Twitter) to clarify that this was a man-made explosion and not a battery explosion accident in the tram.
After the explosion, Musk immediately forwarded the news and said, "Tesla's entire senior team is investigating this incident. Any progress will be announced at any time." Perhaps to emphasize that this was not a Tesla fire and explosion, Musk specifically emphasized, "We have never seen anything like this."
After learning the preliminary information, Musk said on the
After clarifying that the explosion had nothing to do with Tesla electric cars, Musk also seized on the explosion to promote the Cybertruck's sturdy body. He retweeted on the
Musk then continuously criticized the Associated Press, Business Insider and other media for their previous news headlines about "Tesla Pickup Explosion" as misleading, causing damage to Tesla's reputation, and threatened to file lawsuits against these media. He later emphasized that the Cybertruck is the most American pickup truck, with 65% of its parts coming from the United States and Canada, and 90% of the overall parts coming from North America. This proportion is twice that of the Ford F-150.
Tesla sales decline for first time
The specific motive for the Las Vegas bombing has yet to be determined by investigators. But it is undeniable that Tesla, the electric car brand, has been highly politicized due to the special relationship between Musk and Trump. Choosing a Tesla electric car to bomb Trump's iconic hotel is undoubtedly highly symbolic.
Musk and Trump are already highly bound. It was Musk who spent more than $200 million and used his social media platform to help Trump be re-elected. And he himself has gained unprecedented political influence and business returns by virtue of his close relationship with Trump.
It is undeniable that Tesla is suffering from severe market competition and declining demand. Sales data for 2024 released today show Tesla's first-ever sales decline. Although deliveries increased by 2% in the fourth quarter, total deliveries last year were 1.79 million vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 1%.
Tesla was still the global electric vehicle sales champion last year. However, BYD, which ranks second, increased its electric vehicle delivery volume by 12% last year to 1.76 million vehicles, and the gap with Tesla is already negligible. According to current trends, BYD is bound to top the electric vehicle market in 2025.
Affected by the declining sales data, Tesla's stock price fell 5% after the market closed on Thursday, and its market value shrank to US$1.2 trillion, a US$300 billion decrease from US$1.5 trillion two weeks ago, which is exactly equivalent to Toyota Motor, which ranks second in market value among car companies. Thanks to the surge in stock prices after the U.S. election, Tesla's stock price has risen by more than 60% in 2024.
After Trump was elected, he fulfilled his promise to appoint Musk as the "Secretary of Government Efficiency", responsible for streamlining the budget and redundancy of the US federal government. Stimulated by Trump's election, the stock price of Musk's Tesla has risen sharply, and its market value has once again reached one trillion US dollars. The valuations of two popular startups, SpaceX and xAI, have grown strongly, driving Musk's personal assets to exceed US$400 billion, almost twice as much as Zuckerberg, the world's second richest man.
Musk is infinitely close to the center of power
There is a classic line from the American TV series "House of Cards", "Power is like real estate. Location determines everything. The closer it is to the center, the more valuable it is." Musk understands this essence. In order to get closer to Trump, he specially rented a luxurious room in Mar-a-Lago, which is only more than 100 meters away from the main club.
As long as he lives here, he can be close to Trump at any time, and he can participate in the latter's activities just by taking a walk. Last month, Apple CEO Cook and Amazon founder Bezos came to Mar-a-Lago to have dinner with Trump in an attempt to build a relationship, while Musk boasted on the X platform that he was present at the time. Perhaps that's why he lives in Trump's estate, he needs to show he's the closest thing to the new president.
Although Musk has invested more than 200 million US dollars in this election to help Trump be elected, he still has to pay as usual to stay at Mar-a-Lago. This luxury suite costs more than 2,000 US dollars per night. But for Musk, who is worth more than 400 billion U.S. dollars, as long as he can be close to the center of power, this room price is not worth mentioning.
Since Election Day, Musk has been staying at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate and has been almost inseparable from the president-elect, taking him to watch rocket launches and accompanying him on visits to Europe. The two families even had Thanksgiving dinner together, with Musk not leaving briefly until the Christmas break.
Before the New Year arrived, he rushed back to Mar-a-Lago in time to celebrate the New Year with Trump. Also staying at Mar-a-Lago with Musk were his mother, youngest child, and the child’s mother, Shivon Zillis.
Musk is shadow vice president
Musk often stayed at friends' houses. When Musk first didn’t buy a house in Silicon Valley, he often stayed at the home of Google co-founder Page when he flew to Silicon Valley to manage Tesla’s business. Page was once Musk's best friend, until Musk continued to criticize Google's dominance in the field of AI and preached that AI could get out of control and destroy mankind, which led to Page severing their relationship. Musk lamented that Page might never want to talk to him again.
In 2021, Musk sold out all his properties in California and moved to Texas. He also moved Tesla's headquarters to Austin, Texas. But he needs to come to San Francisco from time to time to take care of the development of companies such as X Platform, Neuralink and xAI. Now when he visits Silicon Valley, Musk stays at the mansion of his friend David Saks.
Sachs has been Musk's friend for more than 20 years. He was once the COO of PayPal, started a business with Musk, and is also a member of the "PayPal Mafia". After leaving PayPal, Sachs turned to the investment circle. From SpaceX to Twitter, Sachs followed and supported almost all of Musk's entrepreneurial and business projects, and is considered Musk's closest partner.
Although Musk himself cannot directly serve as a U.S. federal government official due to interest issues, he can introduce many of his long-term friends to the top levels of the Trump administration to ensure that U.S. economic and technology regulatory policies are in line with his position.
On Musk's recommendation, Sacks will serve as the White House's director of cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence. His long-time friend Sriram Krishnan, a partner at Andreessen Horowitz (A16Z), a well-known Silicon Valley venture capital fund, will serve as the White House’s special adviser on artificial intelligence policy.
Because he is an immigrant, Musk cannot run for president or vice president of the United States, and perhaps he cannot put down his own business. But Musk can rely on huge political donations to support candidates who are favorable to him to become the president of the United States, thus gaining unlimited access to the center of power, recommending his agents to high-level government officials, and remotely influencing White House decisions from Silicon Valley.
On January 20, Trump will be inaugurated as President of the United States again. As long as he continues to maintain his close relationship with Trump, Musk will become the "shadow vice president" of the United States. At the beginning of the new year, he posted a photo of himself and his youngest son on X and wrote, "I feel like 2025 will be great."