On Saturday, protesters were seen holding signs that read “Fire Musk,” “Dump Elon, Save USAID,” and “Boycotting Tesla is not ‘illegal.’” They chanted slogans urging people to boycott Tesla, shouting, “Sell your car” and booing at Tesla drivers passing by. Some demonstrators also carried signs equating Musk to Nazis and chanted, “Tesla funds fascism.”
One sign from a protester said that there was a new Tesla car called the “swastikar” and that it has “white power steering.”
The demonstration is the latest in a series of protests at Tesla dealerships across the country, dubbed the “Tesla Takedown” protests. The movement largely stems from opposition to Musk’s role in President Donald Trump’s administration, particularly through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has been implementing cuts to government spending and reducing the federal workforce in an effort to eliminate waste.
The Trump administration has announced plans to investigate the protests, as many have escalated into vandalism and violence. A Tesla dealership in Oregon experienced two separate incidents of gunfire in the past week, according to the Associated Press. Additionally, there have been multiple reports of Tesla vehicles and charging stations set on fire.
President Trump has condemned the acts of violence against Tesla, calling them “domestic terrorism” and vowing that perpetrators will be severely punished.
“They’re harming a great American company,” Trump said at the White House last week. “When you hurt an American company, especially a company like this that supplies so many American jobs, that others are unable to do. When you do that, those people are gonna go through a big problem when we catch them. We've got a lot of cameras up.”
