US Protests Corporate Takeover by Musk

The people of the United States of America have declared, in no uncertain terms, their opposition to the corporate takeover of the American government and public agencies by Elon Musk. 

There has been quite a visible anger against Musk, and in more than hundred or so cases, this has manifested in vandalism of TESLA showroom, TESLA cars and TESLA properties. 

Apart from that, more than two hundreds of protests have been organized, mostly peaceful since Donald Trump’s inauguration. The protesters’ goal is to send a message to the Trump administration that they are against what the Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, is doing with the US federal government – laying off thousands of workers, cutting department budgets, giving fascist salutes and getting rid of entire agencies.

Vickie Mueller Olvera, who has been organizing Tesla protests in Silicon Valley, said. “Nobody voted for this, and nobody voted for Elon. He is an unelected super-billionaire and he is a thug.”

Tesla Takedown Protests describes itself as a decentralized grassroots movement that will “protest Tesla for as long as Elon Musk continues to shred public services”. 

The group on its organizing page says that Musk is “destroying our democracy using the fortune he built at Tesla” and so, in turn, they are “taking action at Tesla”.

Olvera said that demonstrators were asking people to do three things: don’t buy a Tesla, sell off Tesla stock and join the Tesla Takedown protest movement. “I see Elon Musk as hijacking our government, and he’s just dismantling everything that we hold dear,” Olvera said. 

“Everything that people have fought long and hard for, like social security, Medicare and Medicaid and our beautiful national parks … it just feels like the rug is getting pulled out from under us.”

As Musk has made his mark on the federal government and Tesla Takedown protests have grown, his car company’s financial performance has suffered. Since Trump’s inauguration, Tesla’s stock has plummeted more than 35%, sales have gone down and the resale value for used Teslas appears to have hit an all-time low. Musk’s own net worth has fallen by 25% since then, about $100bn. 

Some Tesla owners have said they sold their cars after Musk gave a speech on inauguration day that included two Nazi-style salutes. Jonathan V Last, the editor for the Bulwark, a politically conservative and anti-Trump website, has credited much of Tesla’s decline to the takedown protests.

“I would go so far as to say the Tesla takedown protests have been one of the most consequential protest movements in the shortest amount of time ever.”  Last said during a Bulwark podcast that aired this week. “They helped to obliterate one-third of Elon Musk’s net worth, in like 100 days. And when you attack his money stack, you attack his power.”

The protest movement grows

Tesla Takedown protests started popping up in towns and cities across the US. 

On social media, people posted photos of small gatherings in front of Tesla showrooms with demonstrators holding signs that depicted Musk as a Nazi and said things like “Diabolical Oligarchs Gaslighting Everyone” and “No Swastikars”, a new nickname for Teslas.

Some Tesla owners have resorted to cheeky bumper stickers to distance themselves from their vehicle’s new stigma and perhaps deter would-be vandals. 

They say things like “I bought this before we knew Elon was crazy” or “I just wanted an electric car. Sorry guys.”

Anti-Tesla Sentiment, and Protests, Go National

The same pattern has taken shape across the US. Cities like New York and Chicago now see several hundred people joining in the weekly Tesla Takedown protests. 

On social media, the Bluesky account for Tesla Takedown has gained nearly 25,000 followers in just a matter of weeks. And one of the group’s top promoters, Alex Winter, an activist and the actor who played Bill in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, has amassed nearly 200,000 followers on Bluesky with his daily posts of anti-Musk protests.

Tesla Takedown organizers have been careful to distance themselves from the violent vandalism that has also been carried out against Tesla showrooms. 

Tesla Takedown organizers also 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.”

Countrywide Vandalism of Tesla Properties 

Like peaceful protests, vandalism against Tesla has increased manifold in the last few weeks.  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.”

Attacks on property carrying the logo of Musk’s electric-car company are cropping up across the U.S. and overseas. While no injuries have been reported, Tesla showrooms, vehicle lots, charging stations and privately owned cars have been targeted.

There’s been a clear uptick in these attacks since President Trump took office and empowered Musk to oversee a new Department of Government Efficiency that is ranked with slashing government spending by laying off federal employees.

 An Oregon man faces charges after allegedly throwing several Molotov cocktails at a Tesla store in Salem, then returning another day and shooting out windows. 

In the Portland suburb of Tigard, more than a dozen bullets were fired at a Tesla showroom last week, damaging vehicles and windows, the second time in a week that the store was targeted. On Friday, witnesses reported a man poured gasoline on an unoccupied Tesla Model S and started a fire on a Seattle street.

In Las Vegas, several Tesla vehicles were set ablaze early Tuesday outside a Tesla service center where the word “resist” was also painted in red across the building’s front doors. Authorities said at least one person threw Molotov cocktails — crude bombs filled with gasoline or another flammable liquid — and fired several rounds from a weapon into the vehicles.

FBI Director Kash Patel has called the act as “domestic terrorism” as he constituted a dedicated Taskforce to investigate vandalism against Tesla. The formation of the task force by the FBI came hours after a bomb squad found incendiary devices in one of the Tesla showrooms in Austin, Texas where the company has its headquarters. Violence and vandalism against Tesla vehicles and showrooms have been ongoing for months, including attacks on Tesla’s charging stations. 

Musk continues to run Tesla, as well as X and the rocket manufacturer the SpaceX while also serving as Trump’s adviser and head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

Republicans Face Heat from Public Over Musk Firing Govt Employees

In the last two months dozens of Republican Party leaders have faced blowbacks from the public for Musk’s firing thousands and thousands of federal employees, and cutting the federal budgets. 

The mass firing of federal employees has created a countrywide resentment against the Republican Party and Elon Musk. The anger is also that Musk who hasn’t been elected is allowed to function with unlimited powers. 

Musk who heads DOGE has until now recommended firing of thousands of federal workers including in departments which are at the core of Republican constituencies like department of veteran affairs. The department plans to fire more than 80,000 employees under a sweeping reorganization effort being planned to comply with President Donald Trump's orders to slash the federal government, according to an internal VA memo. The resentment has spread so widespread that a dramatic confrontation erupted during a Cabinet meeting last month as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio clashed with Elon Musk over the aggressive manner in which DOGE has been firing federal employees. 

The meeting was convened following complaints from several agency heads about Musk's aggressive approach to workforce reductions. White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and the Office of Legislative Affairs had also been inundated with concerns from Republican lawmakers facing backlash from constituents over the restructuring efforts.

The US President Donald Trump was present in the meeting and had to intervene and clarify that final decisions on hiring and firing would rest with department heads, not with Musk’s DOGE.  “DOGE is only playing an advisory role,” Trump said.

Donald Trump’s team has advised him to maintain a strategic distance from Elon Musk after Republicans and Trump are facing a major blowback and wave of anger throughout the country for Musk firing tens of thousands of federal employees and army men. 

Trump’s team has gotten worried that Trump's approval rating is negative with nearly every pollster, and that Musk firing federal employees might be the reason behind that. His team has told Trump that he can't ultimately boast and take the credit of firing federal employees.