President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Elon Musk in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, May 30, 2025, in Washington.

A driver in a Tesla Model Y with special equipment mounted on the roof drives along South Congress Avenue in Austin in June.

A Tesla Inc. front-seat robotaxi monitor steps out of a vehicle.

Tesla’s board of directors has promised CEO Elon Musk $29 billion if he sticks around for another two years. Instead, they should pay him to quit.

The world’s wealthiest Texan has driven customers away, behaved recklessly with self-driving technology and spends too much time working elsewhere. The highest-paid CEO in history is heading for a fall, just like so many before him, and he’ll take Tesla’s share price with him.

Once upon a time, Musk was considered a heroic genius delivering the techno-utopia many Americans desire. He helped develop online payment systems, made electric vehicles cool and reinvented rocketry. Fans around the globe hoped he’d simplify daily life, fight climate change and make space travel affordable.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

Today, most people consider Musk a cruel, unhinged right-wing oligarch who uses his wealth to hurt low and middle-income people around the world. While he may still be able to re-engineer products, he’ll never reverse the popular perception of his character.

Disgust for Musk has spilled over to his companies, especially Tesla.

Musk recently........

© Houston Chronicle