‘Play Stupid Games, Win Stupid Prizes’: Colby Hall Says Elon Musk Can Blame Himself for Cratering Approval and Tesla Stock Crash
Mediaite founding editor Colby Hall argued Elon Musk has only himself to blame for falling stock and negative polling in a Wednesday appearance on NewsNation.
The Washington Post has reported that Musk is getting tired of facing “nasty attacks” based on his work with President Donald Trump’s administration and DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), and he’ll be looking to return his attention more to his businesses once his post as a special government employee expires at the end of May.
Hall joined NewsNation on Wednesday and said there’s “irony” to Musk’s reported frustrations with “nasty” attacks considering his constant attacks on critics through his X platform.
Hall said:
There’s some irony here that he complains about the nasty partisan attacks. I’m not sure he’s read his own Twitter feed or his X feed because he’s also engaged in a lot of nasty attacks, some of which made sense, but a lot which were sort of just promoting kind of conspiratorial attacks on the left, many of which were not true. So there’s this old adage I tell my kids, you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. And now his earnings report is down 71%. He’s still the richest man in the world, so I think he’s going to be okay.
Musk’s move into partisanship, according to Hall, split his customer base, though he’s still in a position to be “deified” by the “MAGA right.”
“He became a real sort of hero and deified by the pro-MAGA right. And there’s a lot of people that still see him as this real life sort of Tony Stark character,” Hall said, referring to the Marvel character portrayed by Robert Downey Jr.
Hall added that Musk’s “core mission” at DOGE of cutting government waste remains fairly appealing universally, but his approach to the job has divided people. Musk has said his role with DOGE will soon be significantly reduced, as he’s lost billions in stock amid the president’s trade wars and backlash to Musk’s administration work.
“Starting next month, May, my time allocation to DOGE will drop significantly,” Musk said during a recent Tesla earnings call.
Hall argued that Trump has played the Musk card “very well” by using him as a lightning rod to absorb criticism.
He said:
Trump will always pull him back if he needs his use and utility. And Musk is a global player. He has relationships with China and Russia and virtually every other national leader or international leader. So there is value there. I also think that Trump knows that if he’s a damaged brand, is considered too, his polling numbers are so low, which they currently are pretty low, he can always cut bait and let someone else step in. So I think Trump has played the Elon Musk card very well.
Watch above via NewsNation.
