Tesla Stock Surge Exposes Tim Walz’s Bad Bet And A Governor Distracted By All The Wrong Numbers

In case you weren’t paying attention, Tesla stock hit an all-time high this past week, pushing up near $495 a share.

That matters because back in March, Tim Walz was paying attention. Very close attention. Close enough to brag, on the record, that he likes to "check Tesla stock" when he needs "a little boost," celebrating the fact that the price was down. At the time, Tesla was sitting around $225 a share, and Walz was clearly enjoying himself.

That little moment of smugness has aged exactly how you’d expect: poorly.

Tesla didn’t collapse. It didn’t fade into irrelevance. It didn’t get punished by the market because a Democrat governor disapproved of Elon Musk’s politics. It more than doubled, blowing past its previous highs while Walz’s comment quietly sat there, waiting to be replayed.

Which is fitting, because while Walz was obsessing over the wrong numbers, the numbers that actually mattered on his watch were spiraling completely out of control.

As Tesla surged, federal investigators were uncovering what they now describe as industrial-scale fraud inside Minnesota’s government assistance programs, that are overseen by Walz’s administration. Prosecutors have said the "magnitude cannot be overstated," with potential fraud totaling more than $9 billion across 14 programs. That’s not market volatility. That’s catastrophic failure.

Here’s the connection Walz doesn’t want made: He mocked a private company’s stock price while running a state where billions of taxpayer dollars were allegedly being siphoned off with shockingly little oversight.

Tesla’s stock chart tells a story of correction and accountability. It fell, adjusted, and then exploded because markets reward performance, not political snark.

Minnesota’s chart, meanwhile, tells a very different story. Fake claims. Shell companies. Alleged spending on luxury travel and crypto. Money meant for vulnerable people vanishing while the governor was busy playing culture-war investor.

Walz thought Tesla’s dip was proof of something. Proof that the "right" people were being punished. Proof that his side was winning. Proof he was on the correct moral team.

Instead, it turned into a perfect metaphor for his leadership.

Tesla was temporarily down and rebounded because someone was watching the details.

Minnesota’s assistance programs were being looted for years, and didn’t get caught until federal authorities stepped in.

And that’s why calls for Walz’s resignation aren’t coming out of nowhere. When federal prosecutors are openly describing fraud on a scale that "cannot be overstated," when billions may have vanished on your watch, and when your public focus seems better suited to culture-war sniping than basic oversight, people are going to ask the obvious question: What exactly are you doing here?

Walz laughed at the wrong numbers.

Tesla corrected and soared. Minnesota didn’t. 

And that’s the difference between an organization that watches its numbers and a governor who clearly wasn’t.