#tesla protests

Emily Singer at Daily Kos:

Co-President Elon Musk went on Fox News Tuesday night to whine about protests at Tesla car dealerships across the country, claiming he has no idea why anyone would be mad at him, since he's just a benevolent guy trying to help Americans. "It's really come as such a shock to me that there's this level of hatred and violence from the left. I always thought that the left, that Democrats, were supposed to be the party of empathy, the party of caring," Musk said in a Fox News appearance Tuesday night. "I’ve never done anything harmful, I’ve only done productive things. … This doesn't make any sense. I think there are larger forces at work." Of course, Musk has done extremely harmful things since he bankrolled President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign and wormed his way into a nebulous and powerful role within the federal government. Through his so-called Department of Government Efficiency, Musk has convinced Trump to ignore the law and cut congressionally approved funding, shutter government agencies, and make it harder for Americans to obtain their Social Security benefits. The moves have already had tangibly harmful effects. For example, his role in virtually shuttering the U.S. Agency for International Development—which a federal judge ruled on Tuesday violated the law—has led people in impoverished countries to die, including an 10-year-old boy and an 8-year-old girl who were receiving HIV treatment through a USAID program, The New York Times reported. Shuttering USAID and the programs it ran to feed the starving and treat the sick could cause hundreds of thousands of people to die from hunger or diseases. And those diseases could spread to the United States if they are not kept under control. 

Speaking to Trump toady Sean Hannity Tuesday night on Fox “News”, co-President Elon Musk told a giant lie to the American people in that he has “never done anything harmful.”

From the 03.18.2025 edition of FNC's Hannity:

David Gilbert at Wired:

Over the weekend, thousands of people joined the “Tesla Takedown” protest movement at the company’s showrooms across the country. At the same time, a much smaller number of Elon Musk supporters turned out at Tesla locations for a counterprotest movement that some participants dubbed “Tesla Shield.” While the protest movement comprises people angered at Elon Musk’s role in the dismantling of federal government agencies, the counterprotest movement that showed up this weekend was peopled mostly by MAGA supporters. Among them were an array of far-right extremists, including members of the Proud Boys, armed militias, and at one event in Idaho, a guy dressed as Hitler. As Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) rips through huge swaths of the federal government and puts people’s lives and livelihoods at risk, the Tesla protest movement has gained traction. Tesla’s stock price has dropped by more than 30 percent since the beginning of the year. Isolated incidents of vandalism against Tesla vehicles and chargers as well as dealerships have led Trump to push the Department of Justice to treat alleged violent protesters as “domestic terrorists,” and now some extremist groups have taken it upon themselves to help Musk fight back.

“My people will be free, my people will rule again,” David Pettinger, a member of the extremist anti-government People’s Rights group, shouted at protesters in a fake German accent outside a Tesla dealership in Meridian, Idaho, on Saturday, according to video footage of the incident. A moustachioed Pettinger wore a T-shirt with the words “LITERALLY HITLER” written on the back and a picture of Musk giving a nazi-like salute on the front. Wearing jodhpurs and black boots, Pettinger marched in front of protesters and handed out heart-shaped stickers to Musk supporters. Pettinger told WIRED that he dressed as Hitler to “make fun of the overuse of the terms nazi and fascist.” However, Pettinger’s posts on X echo Hitler’s deeply antisemitic worldview. Also in Meridian were a number of armed individuals in camouflage gear, some wearing body armor, according to images of the counterprotest posted to Bluesky. Pettinger also appeared to be armed, according to video footage showing a handgun tucked into his jodhpurs.

Meanwhile, Josh Fulfer, who is known online as Oreo Express and was at the US Capitol in Washington on January 6, joined a counterprotest group in Fresno, California, telling a local news outlet: “We’re out here to show support for DOGE, Elon Musk, Tesla, and this administration.” Fulfer can be seen on his own videos harassing and shouting at protesters. Ahead of the Tesla Takedown protests this weekend, the Proud Boys and other far-right groups put out calls on their social media channels for supporters to show up in numbers and counter the protests. As virtually all of the dealerships which had protests this weekend, however, the number of anti-Musk protesters vastly outnumbered the pro-Musk protesters.

[...] Musk himself posted multiple times about the protests over the weekend, claiming without any evidence that the protesters were being paid. The hate-filled LibsofTikTok account, operated by Chaya Raichik, responded to one of Musk’s post, claiming: “Soros is paying for this,” referring to Hungarian billionaire and philanthropist George Soros, who far-right figures believe is controlling huge swaths of the global population.

Dara Kerr and Edward Helmore at The Guardian:

Thousands of people worldwide on Saturday protested Elon Musk and his efforts with Donald Trump to dismantle the US federal government, with rallies held in front of nearly every Tesla showroom in the US and many around the world – a concerted effort to go after the billionaire’s deep pockets as the CEO of the electric vehicle maker. Protest organizers asked people to do three things: don’t buy a Tesla, sell off Tesla stock and join the “Tesla Takedown” movement. “Hurting Tesla is stopping Musk,” reads one of the group’s taglines. “Stopping Musk will help save lives and our democracy.” On Saturday, with more than 200 events planned worldwide, protests kicked off midday in front of Tesla showrooms in Australia and New Zealand and then rippled across Europe in countries including Finland, Norway, Denmark, Germany, France, the Netherlands and the UK. Each rally was locally organized with original themes. In Ireland, it was “Smash the Fash”, and Switzerland had “Down with Doge”. Photos posted to Bluesky by Tesla Takedown showed demonstrators in San Jose, California, close to where Tesla was previously headquartered, and Austin, Texas, where its headquarters are now. Musk, the world’s richest person, heads the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge), which he’s tasked with slashing federal budgets in the US, including laying off thousands of workers, though he said in an interview Thursday: “Almost no one has gotten fired.” He’s gone after the Social Security Administration, the Department of Education, the National Park Service and several more departments and agencies, causing widespread backlash and criticism. Musk and Tesla did not return requests for comment. In San Francisco, a crowd of around 200 people gathered in front of the Tesla showroom. Protesters spilled into the busy street and onto the median, confusing the self-driving Waymos trying to get around people darting back and forth. A boombox blasted We’re Not Gonna Take It by Twisted Sister and cars drove by honking enthusiastically. Even passing postal trucks, public buses and fire engines honked in support. People propped up signs with slogans like “Burn your swastikar before it burns you” and “No Doge bags”. Others flew massive American flags mounted upside down. The block-long Tesla showroom was emptied of all cars, and only a few security guards stood inside, with some San Francisco police outside. At one point, a group of four men wearing red Maga hats and black Doge shirts walked through the crowd, but everything remained calm.

[...] In the US, protests happened in nearly every state, across the north-east, south and midwest through to the west coast. States with the most planned rallies included Massachusetts, New York, Florida, Texas, Washington and California, totaling more than 100. Several protests also took place throughout Canada. [...] Tesla Takedown organizers reiterated the need for people to continue to speak out and protest against Musk, Trump and Doge. The stakes are high and “no one is coming to save us”, they say on their website. [...] Organizers have also been careful to distance themselves from the violent vandalism that has been carried out against Tesla showrooms. Dozens of Tesla facilities have been attacked in the middle of the night with molotov cocktails, gunshots or graffiti saying things like “Fuck Elon” and “Tesla Is Fascist”. Trump has vowed to designate any violence against Tesla dealerships as domestic terrorism. Tesla Takedown organizers condemn the vandalism. “We are a non-violent grassroots protest movement,” the group says. “We oppose violence and destruction of property. Peaceful protest on public property is not domestic terrorism.”

Alex Samuels at Daily Kos:

President Donald Trump vowed severe consequences in late March for anyone who dared mess with his pal Elon Musk’s Tesla dealerships. Now, his loyal enforcer—Attorney General Pam Bondi—is making good on that threat, announcing that she’s pushing for a staggering 20-year prison sentence for a man accused of firebombing a Tesla dealership. Bondi said on Monday that the Justice Department had unsealed federal charges against Cooper Jo Frederick, 24, who allegedly attacked a Tesla dealership in Loveland, Colorado, on March 7. “I’ve made it clear: If you take part in the wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties, we will find you, arrest you, and put you behind bars,” Bondi said in a video statement, adding, “All of these cases are a serious threat to public safety. Therefore, there will be no negotiating. We are seeking 20 years in prison.” Frederick was initially charged under state law for possession of an incendiary device, arson, and criminal mischief before the FBI later arrested him in Plano, Texas, following an FBI investigation, Bondi said. She did not specify what federal charges Frederick faces.

Frederick isn’t the only one in the crosshairs over the Loveland dealership attack. Lucy Grace Nelson, 40, was separately arrested in February with “criminal intent to commit a felony, criminal mischief, and using explosives or incendiary devices during a felony at the dealership,” according to Business Insider, which cited Colorado police records. Notably, the Loveland, Colorado, dealership Frederick allegedly targeted had been the site of five other crimes recently, law enforcement officials told a local Fox affiliate. And it’s not just U.S.-based Tesla dealerships facing attacks: More than a dozen Teslas went up in flames at a dealership in Rome, in what authorities suspect was arson.

Sara Boboltz at HuffPost:

Speaking Friday from the Oval Office, President Donald Trump suggested the Capitol rioters were tame compared with the people responsible for setting Tesla vehicles ablaze in protest of billionaire Elon Musk’s meddling in the federal government. “I view these people as terrorists just like others,” Trump said of the Tesla vandals. “When I looked at those showrooms burning, and those cars — not one or two, like seven, eight, 10 burning, exploding all over the place — these are terrorists,” he said. “You didn’t have that on Jan. 6, I can tell you. You didn’t have anything like that Jan. 6,” Trump went on, referring to the 2021 riot that left several people dead. A police officer was among those who died either during the riot or directly afterward. Trump notably issued a mass pardon for hundreds of Jan. 6 rioters in the first days of his new term, regardless of whether their crimes involved physical violence. The president suggested earlier on Friday that people who attack Teslas should be sent to prison in El Salvador, where his administration recently transported over 250 migrants. Attacks on Teslas ramped up across the nation and around the world after Musk made an arm gesture at Trump’s inauguration rally that resembled a Nazi-era “Sieg heil” salute. (Musk denies the comparison.) The world’s richest man has since taken on a prominent White House role guiding the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which has pressured agency leads into making sweeping, unpopular cuts to the federal workforce and government services.

Mr. Capitol Insurrectionist says what?!

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Conor Murray at Forbes:

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, blamed fellow billionaires George Soros, Reid Hoffman and the ActBlue fundraising organization over recent protests targeting his firm Tesla, citing an “investigation”—though it’s unclear what investigation he’s referencing. In a post on X Saturday morning, Musk pointed fingers at Democratic donors, including Soros and Hoffman, as well as the ActBlue organization, Democratic Socialists of America and other Democratic-affiliated groups for being behind recent protests against Tesla. Musk cited an “investigation” finding these groups responsible, but he did not cite any specific investigation, and there is no other evidence linking Soros or Hoffman to the Tesla protests. Musk also misleadingly called these groups “ActBlue-funded,” though ActBlue does not fund groups, but instead is a platform through which donors can give money to campaigns or organizations. Musk reposted a tweet by right-wing influencer Mario Nawfal parroting Musk’s claims about ActBlue, Soros and Hoffman, which vaguely cited X, the New York Post and the conservative outlet BizPac Review as sources, though a BizPac Review article about the protests only cited Musk’s post as a source and articles by the New York Post about Tesla protests do not state who is behind them. Musk’s latest post comes one day after he said, “Something stinks about ActBlue,” in a post on X, which was in response to a user posting about seven ActBlue senior officials resigning at the end of February. Tesla has been targeted by protesters angry at Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency’s effort to slash jobs across the federal government. 

Unelected co-”President” Elon Musk concocts a baseless conspiracy theory falsely connecting George Soros, Reid Hoffman, and ActBlue to protests at Tesla dealerships over DOGE cuts.

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Caleb Ecarma at Musk Watch:

While I hesitate to use the term Kafkaesque, it is difficult to find a better adjective to describe Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. The entity, which is not a department but rather an austerity initiative combined with a parapolitical apparatus, appears set on making the federal government as inefficient and wasteful as possible. Take, for example, the Internal Revenue Service. The Washington Post reported over the weekend that the IRS’s tax receipts are on pace to decline by more than $500 billion by mid-April. The theory behind the slump is that some would-be taxpayers presume the agency too hindered by DOGE’s shake-up to enforce filing requirements this year. At the Department of Veterans Affairs, psychiatrists are warning that the Trump administration’s return-to-office decree — one of Musk’s top priorities — has forced them into crowded workplaces where they cannot grant their patients the medical privacy they are guaranteed by law. And for some doctors at the VA, returning to the office full-time is a non-starter. “The end of remote work is essentially the same as cutting mental health services,” an anonymous clinician told the New York Times. “These remote docs aren’t moving and they have other options if they are forced to drive to some office however many miles away every day to see their patient virtually from there.” [...] On the topic of DOGE-led inefficiencies, it seems the inbox Musk uses to collect millions of responses to his “What Did You Do Last Week?” emails has been exhausted. “The recipient’s mailbox is full and can’t accept messages now,” reads a bounce-back email from [email protected], per Bloomberg News. “Please try resending your message later, or contact the recipient directly.” Emails to nowhere notwithstanding, the Washington Post reported last week that IRS employees have to spend their Mondays waiting in line to message Musk about the “five things I did last week.” Federal employees should expect more of the same in the near future. At a cabinet meeting on Monday, President Donald Trump acknowledged the unpopularity of DOGE but said he would only be “satisfied” after two or three more months of DOGE cuts. The president has since signed a memo that attempts to grant the U.S. Office of Personnel Management — a DOGE cutout — the authority to fire employees across the government. [...]

The FBI crackdown on "violent Tesla attacks"

On Monday, the FBI announced the creation of a task force with the sole mandate of cracking down “on violent Tesla attacks,” referring to the incidents of vandalism that have plagued the automaker’s dealerships, showrooms, and charging stations in recent months. The task force was announced shortly after Trump said Tesla vandals would be treated like “terrorist [thugs]” and could be renditioned to a sprawling prison in El Salvador.