'Tesla Takedown' is a full-fledged domestic terrorism movement
Prosecutors on the state and federal levels must take action.
Violent disruptions targeting Tesla have been occurring across the United States, driven primarily by opposition to CEO Elon Musk’s influential role in the Trump administration, mainly through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk’s DOGE initiatives have resulted in the slashing of thousands of federal bureaucrat jobs and the dismantling of federal agencies. This move has been cheered by the president’s supporters and has unsurprisingly enraged proponents of the unaccountable administrative state.
Google and Apple can't be trusted with your private data.
Big Tech profits off you without your consent, so take back control of your privacy with Proton Pass. Your data is end-to-end encrypted so no one can access it except you.
Sign up through The Dossier and save 60% on Proton Pass
The anti-Musk protests, often organized under the "Tesla Takedown" movement, aim to impact Musk financially by targeting Tesla dealerships, showrooms, and charging stations, encouraging boycotts, and urging shareholders and owners to divest. In a not-so-subtle way, organizers are also encouraging violence and the destruction of public property.
The demonstrations vary widely in scale and nature. They have taken place in dozens of cities—including New York, Seattle, Portland, and Palo Alto—with hundreds of participants at times, chanting slogans like “Elon Musk has got to go” and accusing Musk of “undermining democracy” (despite his efforts to make democracy more accountable through DOGE) and federal services.
The protests have seen plenty of violent incidents in recent days. Vandalism and arson have been reported, such as gunfire at a Tigard, Oregon dealership on March 13, Molotov cocktails damaging charging stations in South Carolina on March 7, and fires set to Cybertrucks in Kansas City on March 17. In Las Vegas, five Teslas were torched on March 18, with “RESIST” painted on the storefront. These acts have prompted investigations by local police and the FBI. President Trump has also threatened to classify such vandals as domestic terrorists.
Organizers are funded by a broad network of leftist dark money groups, and they have urged action to pressure Musk by hurting Tesla’s brand and stock value.
Yes, some of these angry leftists believe they are going to succeed in financially handicapping the world’s wealthiest man. But I think this campaign exists with a much more nefarious objective.
Tesla has struggled this year but has a market cap of roughly $740 billion. Musk controls a little over 20% of the shares. It does the company no favors for it to become a political football. Nonetheless, the leftist sabotage efforts have inspired a new customer base to pick up the slack.
Say the “Tesla Takedown” effort succeeds in further bringing down the share price. Let’s take a look at the rest of Musk’s portfolio:
SpaceX, the premier space company in the world with no peer competitors, last opened up a tender offer valuing the company at $350 billion. X is now valued at $44 billion. xAI is accumulating new funds at a valuation of $75 billion. Lastly, Musk owns Neuralink and the Boring Company, which are multi-billion dollar endeavors.
So even if the “Tesla Takedown” movement succeeds beyond the wildest imaginations of its organizers and deals a significant blow to Tesla, Elon Musk will in no way be strapped for cash anytime soon. The man has effectively hacked capitalism, and he will never in his lifetime find himself with limited access to his own or outsiders’ capital.
The more imaginative “Tesla Takedown” organizers know they will never deprive Elon Musk of wealth. So, what’s the real goal here?
The goal of “Tesla Takedown” is to employ domestic terrorism through the use of violence, fear, and intimidation to achieve its political objectives. The movement aims to coerce the Trump Administration into conceding to its demands by amplifying the psychological impact of their actions beyond the immediate victims to create widespread disruption.
The Trump Administration and state governments are right to label this movement as much more than a protest movement. Hopefully, prosecutions on both the state and federal levels will ramp up dramatically in the weeks and months to come.
How hard is it to determine who is funding the Tesla terrorists? The government can identify every grandmother who was within a mile of the Capitol on January 6th.
In Encinitas CA, a liberal beach community the Tesla dealership was spraypainted with swastikas and curse words. Swastikas were spray painted on cars. This is indeed domestic terrorism, NOT free speech as leftists claim. There are daily protests calli g Elon a Nazi. The daytime protestors? All in their late 60's, 70's and it's. Guess these old time hippies muss the 1960's. Question is, are they being paid, and by whom?