Elon Musk’s political activities — buying Twitter, renaming it X, and letting election deniers and white supremacists back on; donating nearly $300 million to elect Donald Trump; heading DOGE — have dramatically harmed Tesla’s financial fortunes, according to a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research by Yale University economists. Musk’s polarizing behavior likely cost the company up to 1.26 million vehicle sales in the US alone, the group estimates. Meanwhile, EV sales from other automakers popped 17-22 percent, as Musk-disgusted shoppers spent their cash elsewhere.