[[[[[ Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s televised pitch for investors to buy TeslaTSLA+0.17% shares has taken the intermingling of public and private interests into unprecedented territory.Appearing Wednesday night on the Fox News Channel, Lutnick appealed to viewers to buy stock in the electric car company, calling founder Elon Musk “the best person to bet on” that he’s ever met. “If you want to learn something on the show tonight, it’s ‘Buy Tesla,” he said. “It’s unbelievable that this guy’s stock is so cheap. It’ll never be so cheap again.”University of Texas at Austin professor Henry W. Brands, whose books have chronicled U.S. presidencies and the country’s economic history, said the episode was alarming. “Presidents and their subordinates have long been cheerleaders for the economy as a whole,” he said. “But I cannot remember a single instance when an administration endorsed a particular company.” ]]]]]
