Minnesota Governor Tim Walz may have picked a fight he wasn’t ready for—this time with the White House itself. After mocking Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk over the company’s recent stock decline, Walz found himself in the crosshairs of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who didn’t hold back in her sharp rebuke during Wednesday’s briefing.
The feud began after Walz, once a running mate to Vice President Kamala Harris, took a public jab at Musk while discussing budget cuts tied to Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). On Tuesday, March 18, the Minnesota governor confessed to closely tracking Tesla’s stock—not as an investor, but as an observer.
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“There’s nothing conservative about an unelected South African repo baby firing people at the VA,” Walz said, referencing Musk’s birthplace and controversial role in recent government cost-cutting moves. Musk, born in South Africa in 1971, became a U.S. citizen in 2002, per the New York Times.
Leavitt wasted no time responding to Walz’s comments. When asked about the governor’s remarks during a press conference, she didn’t hold back. “I think that’s quite sad,” Leavitt said. “I think that Governor Walz, unfortunately, is living a sad existence after his devastating defeat on November 5th.”
Walz has been touring battleground states, rallying Democrats to counter what he calls the Trump-Musk agenda. His latest stop in Wisconsin was aimed at influencing the state’s upcoming April 1 Supreme Court race between Musk-endorsed Brad Schimel and Democratic candidate Susan Crawford.
But Musk, known for his sarcasm on social media, fired back with a signature post on X (formerly Twitter):
“Sometimes when I need a little boost, I look at the @JDVance portrait in the White House and thank the Lord.”
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Tesla, however, is going through turbulent times. The company has lost nearly half its market value in recent weeks amid Musk’s deep government spending cuts and growing criticism of DOGE’s impact. Protests have erupted outside Tesla dealerships, with demonstrators targeting Musk’s policies and even vandalizing vehicles in symbolic acts of defiance, the Daily Mail reported.
President Trump hasn’t wavered in his support for Musk. Earlier this month, he transformed the White House lawn into a Tesla showcase, reaffirming his alliance with the embattled CEO. As political tensions rise, it’s clear that Tesla’s troubles—and Musk’s critics—aren’t going unnoticed in Washington.
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