President Donald Trump has said he will call the attacks on Tesla dealerships domestic terrorism. The protests and vandalism come as Tesla's stock price and sales around the world plunge as the brand suffers from Musk's political actions.
President Donald Trump has said he will call the attacks on Tesla dealerships domestic terrorism. The protests and vandalism come as Tesla's stock price and sales around the world plunge as the brand suffers from Musk's political actions.
This is reported by TechCrunch, citing a transcript published by White House journalists, which may indicate deepening ties with Elon Musk.
Tesla dealerships around the world are experiencing “Tesla takeovers” — people protesting what they see as a hostile takeover of the federal government by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Some of the protests have resulted in graffiti on Tesla signs, the setting of fire on charging stations, and even the throwing of Molotov cocktails at one dealership, as dev.ua previously reported .
“I’m going to stop them,” Trump said of people committing violence against Tesla property. He spoke with Musk on Tuesday at the White House. “We’re going to catch those who do this because they’re hurting a great American company.”
"And let me tell you," Trump continued. "If you do this to Tesla, and you do this to any company, we will catch you, and you will go through hell."
Under federal law, an attack on company property can be considered domestic terrorism if the purpose is to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence public property, or influence government behavior through destruction, murder, or kidnapping.
As the Tesla protests have developed over the past few weeks, efforts have coalesced into what is now known as “#TeslaTakedown,” which describes itself as a decentralized grassroots movement.
In a statement to TechCrunch, the movement's organizers said that "the right to peaceful protest is a fundamental part of American democracy."
“By singling out his largest donor’s business as something outside of democracy, Trump is once again showing us who he is: a corrupt future king. Americans will not tolerate this,” they wrote. “We are a nonviolent mass protest movement. We oppose violence and the destruction of property. Peaceful protest in public spaces is not domestic terrorism. They are trying to intimidate us. We will not let them succeed.”
The future risk lies in how Trump and Musk define violence — and whether peaceful protesters will be labeled as violent in the future. Trump has vowed to deport foreign students who join protests against Israel’s war in Gaza, raising the threat that people with green cards or visas in the U.S. could face the same threat for protesting against Tesla.
After Trump issued an executive order in January to create DOGE , an advisory committee to cut government spending, Musk, who donated $260 million to Trump's campaign, oversaw mass layoffs of government employees and the liquidation of entire agencies like USAID, which some say contributed to an atmosphere of anger, fear, confusion, and chaos.
Musk is eyeing other agencies for “removal,” even as his critics point out that his companies directly benefit from government contracts and favors. SpaceX, for example, has received contracts from NASA, the Department of Defense and other federal agencies worth more than $20 billion, according to data from USASpending.gov.
