Tesla now faces headwinds from the president Musk helped elect. Trump, a frequent EV critic, has called for scrapping EV subsidies and policies that have added billions of dollars to Tesla’s bottom line. Musk has dismissed the impact on Tesla of losing subsidies, saying rivals would suffer more.

He claims the carmaker will be the most valuable AI company in the world thanks to the reams of video data collected by its cars. Is that really a competitive advantage?

The backlash against the electric vehicle company has turned violent at times, as its billionaire chief executive parlays his support for President Trump into consequential influence over the federal government.