Elon Musk revealed Tesla’s new car, the Roadster 2, to the world at a SpaceX facility in Texas on Thursday—and what a reveal it was.
The stunning vehicle drove up a curved wall until it hung upside down, flipped in midair—with the help of rocket thrusters—and briefly levitated before landing with the grace of a falling feather. It then used those same thrusters to go from 0 to 60 mph in less than a second and leap over six vehicles while performing a kickflip the legendary Tony Hawk would have been proud of.
It has yet to master the less impressive, but slightly more important, feat of arriving at a dealership.
Tesla first unveiled the second-generation Roadster in 2017 and promised to deliver the car to customers in 2020. Instead, the vehicle is now set to enter production in 2028. Oh, and you can’t buy the flying version. That’s invitation-only—and not road legal.
This car is a piece of art that constitutes a fitting allegory for Trump’s America. It grabs your attention, it’s scarcely believable, and you’ve never seen anything quite like it before. Unfortunately, it also falls short of expectations, and fails to serve the overwhelming majority of Americans.
A Day Late And A Dollar Short
Tesla first announced the second-generation Roadster in 2017. Musk finally demonstrated it on Thursday, nine years later, and said production will begin in 2028, eight years after the original delivery target.
Not only is the car horrendously delayed, but Musk doesn’t expect it to make money. Earlier this year, he publicly admitted the new roadster probably wouldn't "move the needle massively from a revenue standpoint…But it is very cool."
Tesla could use something that moves the needle. Annual vehicle deliveries fell 9.5 percent between 2023 and 2025, from 1.81 million to 1.64 million, while automotive revenue dropped roughly 16 percent to $69.5 billion. Net income attributable to shareholders plunged 46 percent last year.
Musk has talked up the Roadster’s promise for years, keeping prospective customers and shareholders enthralled with every tease. What he’s delivered is certainly eye-catching and impressive, but few people will enjoy the benefit.
Similarly, two years ago, Trump promised for the third time to Make America Great Again. Among the most prominent of his various presidential campaign promises were a pledge to cut inflation, immediately bring prices down, and to put an end to the wars raging around the globe.
Now, inflation is running at 3.7 percent—0.8 percent higher than the annual rate in Biden’s last year in office. Gasoline averages $4.33 a gallon, and diesel is well above $6, hitting a record high of $6.53 in September. Chief among the reasons for these unwelcome realities is war in Iran, which Trump started in February and has in turn stoked an increasingly complex regional conflict in the Middle East.
There are successes to acknowledge; GDP grew at a 2.2 percent annual rate in Q2, and Wall Street has prospered. Unfortunately, grocery stores and gas stations don’t charge in S&P 500 points.
Big promises haven’t delivered results for most of the American people, and the latest polling suggests they’re growing tired of the promises. A recent AP-NORC poll found just 26 percent of Americans approved of Trump's handling of the economy, and only 17 percent of his handling of living costs—exactly the same share that feel he keeps his promises.
Are You Paying Attention?
Musk's foray into the world of politics as the architect of the Department of Government Efficiency followed a familiar script: arrive in Washington, promise to slash up to $2 trillion in spending, smash through bureaucracy, and post the triumphs online.
Slash spending DOGE did, sort of. The Government Accountability Office found serious problems with DOGE's claims of $110 billion in itemized savings, accusing the department of questionable data collection and reporting practices, taking credit for cuts that were planned prior to its founding, and in some cases reporting savings that simply did not exist. Among them was $1.7 billion supposedly saved on a military healthcare contract that had not actually been cut.
DOGE absolutely did terminate some government contracts, reducing spend and staffing. But making government smaller and making it work better are not the same thing.
Kind of like the difference between a flying prototype car and one that most people can actually buy and drive. Except you can choose not to put down a deposit on a Tesla; you can't opt out of the federal government.
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None of this is to disparage Musk, his companies and their achievements, of which there are many.
The new Roadster is a genuinely incredible feat of engineering. Tesla revolutionized the auto industry and turned the electric car market from a gimmick into a giant. SpaceX has made reusable rockets a working reality and routinely flies astronauts to the International Space Station; its subsidiary Starlink has brought fast, reliable satellite internet to millions worldwide.
America boasts a culture that breeds ambition and innovation; the willingness of its entrepreneurs and companies to attempt audacious, improbable things—and sometimes pull them off—is part of what makes this country great. For all its faults, it remains an economic and technological powerhouse.
Unfortunately, it has also bred another, more insidious kind of culture, one in which attention often carries more currency than action.
Stand And Deliver
The Trump presidency could only ever have happened in our time. Our digitally enabled, social media-supported society is geared to reward spectacle over substance, and Trump’s masterful command of the former has driven unparalleled engagement.
But much like the dopamine crash that follows an extended period of scrolling, the Trump administration’s failure to deliver on the Don’s grand promises will result in bitter disappointment.
Rather than take responsibility for the hardships facing the nation and work to resolve them, he has resorted to yet more promises and quick fixes that do not, in fact, fix anything at all.
One such promise is the $5000 "dividend" that will purportedly be funded by tariff income and paid to each and every American if Republicans keep control of Congress at the midterms—at the cool cost of roughly $1.2 trillion. Funnily enough, that figure is not far off the amount that Trump and his family’s business earned from cryptocurrency ventures last year.
To tackle the cost of diesel, he's announced a deal with Vladimir Putin to waive sanctions on Russian fuel exports while blaming Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries for rising prices.
Energy experts say the amount of diesel to be provided by Moscow is a mere drop in the bucket and will make little difference to pump prices. The deal makes a major difference to the Kremlin, which is set to enjoy considerable political and economic capital as Moscow continues its war in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Trump’s standoff with Iran over Hormuz and Tehran’s elusive nuclear program—and the consequences it has brought—continues.
There's nothing wrong with building a flying car as a feat of engineering, or for the sheer pleasure of proving you can. Nor should a country stop attempting extraordinary things because ordinary problems remain unsolved.
The trouble begins when governments and presidents confuse the task of governing with marketing; eventually, you have to deliver at least some of what you promised.