Trump will never drive Tesla he bought from Elon Musk for one very good reason

Donald Trump will never be able to drive the Tesla he bought last month from . The former president snapped up the electric car in March as a 'show of confidence' in his senior advisor, but is barred from taking the wheel on public roads due to a very strict rule.

's move came as a counter to critics of his administration, who pledged to boycott the electric vehicle maker. He declared on X: "To Republicans, Conservatives, and all great Americans, Elon Musk is 'putting it on the line' in order to help our nation, and he is doing a FANTASTIC JOB!"

He continued: "But the radical left lunatics, as they often do, are trying to illegally and collusively boycott Tesla, one of the world's great automakers, and Elon's 'baby', in order to attack and do harm to Elon, and everything he stands for.

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"They tried to do it to me at the 2024 Presidential Ballot Box, but how did that work out? In any event, I'm going to buy a brand new Tesla tomorrow morning as a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk, a truly great American."

Despite the purchase, Trump has admitted the Tesla will not be for his personal use, noting instead that White House staff would be the ones enjoying the ride.

The former President remarked: "I'm going to be buying this because it's a good product. It's as good as it gets. And number two, this man [Musk] has devoted his energy and his life to doing this."

Calling Musk a "patriot", Trump admitted he was not allowed to drive the car. He continued: "I just wanted to make a statement, now here's the bad news, I'm not allowed to drive.

"I haven't driven a car in a long time and I loved to drive cars, but I'm going to have it at the White House and I'm going to let my staff use it, people at the place use it, they're all excited about that."

Like Trump, preceding presidents such as Bill Clinton, George Bush, , and are bound by the same protocol that forbids them from driving on public roads, despite no longer being in office.

This restriction allows them to drive only on private grounds, mostly due to secret service concerns and the specific training their drivers receive in "evasive and defensive driving manoeuvres."

Although not officially enshrined in law, the precedent set by the secret service aims to keep presidents away from the driver's seat for safety reasons. George Bush once humorously referred to this during an episode of Jay Leno's Garage.

Even when President Bush showcased a 2013 Ford F150 King Ranch on Jay Leno's show, he could only legally take the wheel within the bounds of his own property, where the limitations on presidential driving do not apply.

Bush quipped, "There's a lot of reasons to run for president but there's one overwhelming reason not to run for president. I like to get that [Corvette] Z06 from zero to 60 in 3.4 seconds."

It seems other presidents are also adhering to the stringent driving protocol. President Obama says he only made a few circles around the South Lawn of the White House in a Chevy Volt. He later appeared on Jerry Seinfeld's 'Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee'.