Cybertrucks set on fire. Bomb threats at Tesla showrooms. Vandalism at charging stations.
A wave of violent protests targeting Tesla facilities has erupted across the country in recent weeks over Elon Musk’s controversial role within the Trump Administration, with demonstrators looking to bankrupt the company and ultimately force Musk out of his government position.
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On Saturday, March 29, the anti-Musk movement is preparing for what could be its largest mobilization yet. The decentralized group Tesla Takedown has called for peaceful protests targeting more than 500 locations worldwide in what organizers describe as a stand against its billionaire CEO’s involvement with right-wing politics. Musk, who serves as the head of the newly-established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), alienated many customers when he endorsed Trump in last year’s presidential election and spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help his campaign, including by leveraging his social media platform X to rally support.
Since January, Musk’s public persona has only become more divisive, as he’s overseen aggressive cuts to the federal workforce, called for privatizing popular government programs, and made what was widely interpreted as a Nazi-style salute at a celebration rally on the day of Trump’s Inauguration. Many also view his close ties to the Trump Administration as a clear conflict of interest, given that his businesses have collected a reported $38 billion in government funds.
While Tesla Takedown insists its movement is nonviolent, critics have tried in recent weeks to blame it for acts of vandalism and arson against Tesla showrooms, vehicles, and charging stations. Incidents have ranged from Molotov cocktail attacks in Salem, Oregon, to Cybertrucks spray-painted with Nazi comparisons in Brooklyn. Federal authorities have already arrested multiple suspects, with both Trump and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi branding the destruction of Tesla property as “domestic terrorism” and warning that those involved could face up to 20 years in prison.
“You didn’t have that on Jan. 6, I can tell you,” Trump said last week, suggesting that the Tesla attacks were more destructive than the deadly January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, when hundreds of his supporters stormed the building in an effort to overturn the election and left the halls of Congress with broken windows, vandalized walls and ransacked offices. “Nobody was killed on January 6, but what’s happening to Elon Musk and Tesla is a disgrace.”
Since December, Tesla’s stock has lost more than half its value. Trump has portrayed Musk as a patriot under siege and earlier this month made a show of buying a Tesla Model S on the South Lawn of the White House. “I think [Musk has] been treated very unfairly by a very small group of people. And I just want people to know that he can’t be penalized for being a patriot,” Trump said of Musk’s role in his Administration. The President promised that protesters who had attacked Tesla dealerships and charging stations were “going to go through hell.”
“I look forward to watching the sick terrorist thugs get 20-year jail sentences for what they are doing to Elon Musk and Tesla,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, even suggesting that convicted vandals should serve their time in El Salvador’s notorious prison system, which has already become a black hole for accused Venezuelan gang members deported from United States with no judicial hearing.
Despite the increased pressure from the Trump Administration, protesters are still planning for their “biggest day of action” at all 277 Tesla showrooms on March 29. “Elon Musk is destroying our democracy, and he’s using the fortune he built at Tesla to do it. We are taking action at Tesla to stop Musk’s illegal coup,” Tesla Takedown says on its website, adding that “we oppose violence, vandalism and destruction of property.”
Once seen as the epitome of innovation and progress, Musk’s Tesla is now viewed as a symbol of division. Some disillusioned owners have responded to calls from Tesla Takedown to sell their vehicles, including Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, a Democrat. Others have placed anti-Musk bumper stickers on their Teslas in protest, while some conservative personalities, like Fox News host Sean Hannity, have publicized their recent purchases of new Teslas.
Some analysts speculate that Tesla’s board may eventually have to distance itself from Musk if public relations woes continue to drag down the company’s financial performance. An NBC News poll released this month found that more voters (51%) viewed Musk negatively than positively (39%), reflecting how deeply polarized public opinion of the billionaire CEO has become in the wake of his work with Trump.
Democrats, meanwhile, have seized on the backlash against Musk to energize their base. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas said at a virtual rally held for the Tesla Takedown movement that she hoped to see Musk “taken down” on her birthday on March 29, the day of the planned protests. She clarified during the rally that her calls for action were nonviolent. Bondi, the attorney general, warned Crockett to “tread very carefully” in response.
As tensions escalate, some protesters say they are now facing personal threats and harassment. Joan Donovan, one of the organizers of the Tesla Takedown movement, said in a post on Bluesky that she is being “viciously threatened and doxed” for participating in the public demonstrations, claiming that Musk’s supporters had developed “a private army of networked harassers” who have branded her a “domestic terrorist” for protesting Tesla. And in Florida last Saturday, a man was arrested after driving his car toward a group of anti-Musk protesters outside a Tesla dealership in West Palm Beach. No one was injured.
The FBI has warned the public to look out for signs of possible attacks on Tesla properties ahead of the day of action, including individuals surveilling or trying to break into dealerships or making threats against the company online.
“Tesla just makes electric cars and has done nothing to deserve these evil attacks,” Musk wrote on X in response to the violent acts aimed at Tesla facilities.
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