1). “Tesla Take Down”, information, photos and videos about the many Tesla / Musk demonstrations taking place in the U.S and around the world, at < https://bsky.app/profile/did:
2). “A president touting Musk’s cars from the White House shows this: the Tesla boycott really irks him”, Mar 14, 2025, Gaby Hinsliff, The Guardian, at < https://www.theguardian.com/
3). “Trump calls Tesla boycott ‘illegal’ and says he’s buying one to support Musk: Standing in the driveway of the White House with Tesla vehicles, Trump said he would label violence against the company’s showrooms as domestic terrorism”, Mar 11, 2025, Michael Sainato & Dara Kerr, The Guardian, Embedded Video 43 seconds long, at < https://www.theguardian.com/
4). “Tesla stock falls after Trump official urges Americans to ‘invest in Elon Musk’: Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick’s efforts to promote the tech CEO on Fox News backfired amid national protests”, Mar 20, 2025, Martin Pengelly, The Guardian, at < https://www.theguardian.com/
5). “Trump floats sending Americans to foreign prisons. Civil rights groups say that would be illegal:Trump suggested on Truth Social that people charged with attacking Tesla could serve time in 'lovely' prisons in El Salvador”, Mar 21, 2025, Ali Bianco, Politico, at < https://www.politico.com/news/
6). “Bondi, citing ‘domestic terrorism,’ announces charges for Tesla attacks: Tesla CEO Elon Musk has faced a backlash for DOGE’s moves to cut down the size of the federal government”, Mar 20, 2025, Ali Bianco, Politico, at < https://www.politico.com/news/
7). “Seattle activist attacked by Elon Musk vows to push back”, Mar 21, 2025, Kai Uyehara, Seattle Times, at < https://www.seattletimes.com/
~~ recommended by dmorista ~~
Introduction by dmorista: The American Populace has been pretty well physically not present in the streets during the Trump / Musk / DOGE dismantling of several agencies of the U.S. Federal Government, including the obvious moves to destroy Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security, to pay for another multi-Trillion dollar tax cut for the billionaires. BTW as far as taxes go, Tesla / Musk paid not a penny of Federal Income Tax for 2024 despite earnings of $2.3 Billion and:
“In 2023, Tesla paid $48 million in taxes on $3.1 billion in income — a 1.5 percent rate. And, in 2022, when it reported $5.5 billion in income, Tesla also paid a 0 percent tax rate.
“This brings Tesla’s average tax rate over the past three years to 0.4 percent, or 50 times less than the statutory corporate tax rate of 21 percent.” (See, “Tesla Paid Zero Federal Income Tax in 2024, Despite $2.3 Billion in Income: This brings Tesla’s average tax rate over the past three years to 0.4 percent”, Jan 30, 2025, Sharon Zhang, Truthout, at < https://truthout.org/articles/
Hostile crowds have attended many Republican Town Hall meetings and the Republican leadership told their House and Senate members to quit holding Town Hall meetings. Harder for the Trump Regime's minions to control is the ever-growing Boycott and Protest movement targeting Tesla and Musk. Item 1)., “Tesla Take Down”, has videos and photos and short notes posted from places all over the world showing crowds of protester / boycotters at Tesla dealerships. Photos of burnt out Teslas are featured in some of the reports but the website maintains a strict no violence or vandalism stance. The protests are inspired by the website for Tesla Takedown that has a homepage at Tesla Take Down website, general information, at < https://www.teslatakedown.com/ >. The Boycott and protest actions have taken their toll on Tesla's stock price (the biggest component of Musk's wealth and Fortune reports that:
“The action against Tesla has impacted Musk's personal wealth, wiping around $175 billion off his December peak of $486 billion, per Bloomberg's billionaire index. One of the early coordinators of the 'Tesla Takedown' movement, Edward Niedermeyer, told Fortune that this wealth drop is exactly the aim.” (Emphasis in original). {See, “Organizers behind ‘Tesla Takedown’ protests aren’t backing down despite pressure from Trump: ‘Our goal is to bankrupt Elon Musk’ ”, Mar 21, 2025, Beatrice Nolan, Fortune, at < https://fortune.com/2025/03/
Trump and Musk are greatly irritated and enraged by this show of defiance and hatred towards them, and this led to the now famous “infomercial” in which Trump and Musk appeared along with 5 Tesla Models in the White House Driveway, as reported by Item 2)., “A president touting Musk’s cars ….”. Trump selected a red model for $80,000 and blathered about the vehicle and Trump issued a threat to vandals reported by the article. This is reported in greater detail in Item 3)., “Trump calls Tesla boycott ‘illegal’ ….” where the article notes that:
“ … the president also said he would label violence against Tesla showrooms as domestic terrorism. ….
“ 'Elon Musk is “putting it on the line” in order to help our Nation, and he is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! But the Radical Left Lunatics, as they often do, are trying to illegally and collusively boycott Tesla, one of the World’s great automakers, and Elon’s “baby,” in order to attack and do harm to Elon, and everything he stands for,' Trump posted on Truth Social on Tuesday morning. ….
“ 'In any event, I’m going to buy a brand new Tesla tomorrow morning as a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk, a truly great American. Why should he be punished for putting his tremendous skills to work in order to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN???' ”
Tesla stock price kept falling and a few days later Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick took up shilling for Tesla and Musk, while appearing on Fox News, as reported in Item 4)., “Tesla stock falls after ….”. Lutnick's blandishments apparently had no effect.
The damage to various Tesla cars, trucks, dealerships, and chargin stations apparently outraged Trump and gave him an opening to try to criminalize the boycott and protests. Item 5)., “Trump floats sending Americans to foreign prisons. ….”, reports Trump suggesting that in addition to charging vandalism against Teslas as ‘domestic terrorism’, with 5 year minimum sentences and 20 year maximum prison sentences by noting that:
“Trump said he hopes those charged — which includes three people who are accused of setting or trying to set fire to cars or charging stations — will get 20 years of prison time.
“ 'Perhaps they could serve them in the prisons of El Salvador, which have become so recently famous for such lovely conditions!' Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday.”
Trump's toady Attorney General, Pam Bondi immediately took action to prosecute acts of vandalism against Tesla cars of facilties as heavy duty felonies as reported in Item 6)., “Bondi, citing ‘domestic terrorism,’ announces charges ….”. And on Mar 20 the Department of Justice posted a Press Notice “Attorney General Pamela Bondi Announces Severe Charges Against Violent Tesla Arsonists” that outlines the harsh actions taken against the three people already arrested (See, “Attorney General Pamela Bondi Announces Severe Charges Against Violent Tesla Arsonists”, Mar 20, 2025, Office of Public Affairs, U.S. Dept of Justice, at < https://www.justice.gov/opa/
But the spirit of the Tesla Takedown and the many demonstrators and boycotters is demonstrated by an activist in Seattle whose story is reported in Item 7)., “Seattle activist attacked by Elon Musk ….”. Valerie Costa is a long-time activist and Musk used X to try to dox her and direct right-wing haters against her. The article reports that:
“People sent her insults laced with profanities telling her to 'go die already,' while others demanded FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi investigate her as a domestic terrorist.” Ms Costa has carefully and scrupulously always made it clear that she supports non-violent protests against Tesla and Musk and does not support vandalism or other violence. But Item 7 further reports that: “Nevertheless, the lack of criminal activities at those protests hasn’t stopped Musk and others from accusing Costa and others of violating laws. Musk’s post on X quoted a video suggesting Costa was inspired by Luigi Mangione, the man charged in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO, which Costa said is not true.” Typical lies and false charges against a leftist operative by the the world's richest man (though she played a role in reducing his wealth by well over $100 billion and perhaps by even more as time goes by).
But the fact remains that the Tesla Takedown is the most successful resistance to the Fascist Takeover of the U.S. so far. It needs to be used as an inspiration and kept going as long as possible.
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https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:hljkd4e73ttz5xjjywsvebzz
Tesla Takedown won't publish to Blogger.
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A president touting Musk’s cars from the White House shows this: the Tesla boycott really irks him | Gaby Hinsliff
What do you buy the richest man in the world? The answer, obviously, is the one thing that usually can’t be had for love nor money, and that’s pimping out the presidential office for advertising purposes.
Posing with Elon Musk beside a scarlet Tesla parked on the White House driveway, Donald Trump announced that he was buying one of his friend’s cars despite not being allowed to drive for security reasons because: “I just want people to know that you can’t be penalised for being a patriot.” The billionaire currently chainsawing his way through so many ordinary federal workers’ jobs had, he said indignantly, been unfairly treated by people who inexplicably now seem to have turned against his cars.
Unedifying as all this was, what’s interesting is that it suggests that for once both men are rattled.
The once-reassuring idea that stock market jitters would be enough to rein Trump in is now fading fast: this week the president refused to rule out a recession, suggesting only that there would be “a period of transition, because what we’re doing is very big”. But it seems he does still care either about his friends losing money, or perhaps about the idea gaining traction that joining Team Trump does the opposite of making you great again. Tesla’s share price has halved since December, with more than $800bn wiped off the company’s value thanks to sales in Europe nosediving. Musk’s social platform X has shed users fast in recent months, while the boss’s trade war seems to have cost his Starlink satellite business a $68m contract with the Canadian province of Ontario. This is not, to put it mildly, how oligarchy usually works. Asked on Fox Business this week how he managed to run his companies while slashing the state, an unusually downcast-looking Musk sighed “with great difficulty” before falling silent. It wasn’t exactly an advert for coming on board.
Personally I’ve always had my doubts about consumer boycotts, which at best tend to make the non-buyer feel good without achieving very much and at worst hurt ordinary employees with no power to grant whatever the boycotter wants. But Magaworld evidently believes in them, judging by the way Bud Light’s sales plummeted after it featured a trans influencer in a marketing campaign. And while there’s no justification for violence against car dealers, peacefully not buying stuff is the safest form of protest imaginable for anyone fearful of retaliation by this regime. You don’t have to risk getting arrested, fired or deported; you don’t even have to wave a placard. And for all Trump’s talk of campaigners “illegally and collusively” boycotting Tesla, you can’t be sued for not wanting to buy a car. That boycotts get under the president’s skin where nothing else – not court orders, not the barely disguised horror of old allies abroad – seems therefore to make a strange kind of sense. To a president who sees everything in terms of making money, it’s consumers who matter. And now their wrath is spreading well beyond Musk’s companies.
In Sweden, Facebook groups have sprung up urging boycotts of big US brands from Coca-Cola to Nike and Airbnb. Two-thirds of Germans would now rather avoid buying American where possible, according to a survey for the business newspaper Handelsblatt. In Denmark, amid widespread alarm over Trump’s threat to get Greenland “one way or another”, the country’s biggest grocery chain is reportedly tagging European-made products with a black star to help customers buy local, while Canadians have been furiously boycotting US brands ever since Trump first suggested he wanted to annex their country. Judging by a flurry of Reddit queries about what Canadian alternatives are available in the UK, meanwhile, some Brits may soon be starting to load up on maple syrup, McCain oven chips and extra strong Canadian bread flour (excellent for sourdough, apparently) in solidarity. While a translatlantic trade war is ultimately going to hurt smaller countries more than it hurts the US, it will not necessarily be pain-free for corporate America.
More significantly, European defence stocks have soared over the last week on the assumption that European governments seeking to rearm in a hurry will be reluctant to buy US-made weapons systems: if Washington is no longer a reliable ally, relying on US spare parts and software updates looks like a potential security weakness. Meanwhile shares in the Franco-British satellite network Eutelsat are up sixfold on rumours that European governments are looking for alternatives to Musk’s Starlink, and something of the same reverse Midas touch is now clearly blighting political as well as corporate brands associated with Trump. Pierre Poilievre, the rightwing populist who had been expected to demolish Canada’s Liberal party in this year’s elections, has seen his poll lead evaporate. And in Britain, being tipped as a future Reform UK party leader by Musk seems, if anything, to have helped end Rupert Lowe’s career. (Didn’t he know there is only ever room for one star in a Nigel Farage party?)
It’s too early to tell, of course, whether Trump’s attempt to drum up business on his friend’s behalf will bring the Maga faithful flocking to the rescue of a beleaguered brand. But if they do decide en masse to trade their trucks in for Teslas, at least we can all enjoy the irony of the people otherwise most furiously resistant to electric cars being suckered into accidentally cutting their carbon emissions by a president who doesn’t appear to believe in the climate crisis. These days, you take your pleasures where you can.
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Trump calls Tesla boycott ‘illegal’ and says he’s buying one to support Musk
Trump says he will label violence against Tesla dealers domestic terrorism – video Standing in the driveway of the White House with Tesla vehicles, Trump said he would label violence against the company’s showrooms as domestic terrorism
Donald Trump said he is buying a “brand new Tesla” and blamed “Radical Left Lunatics” for “illegally” boycotting Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company. The announcement came a day after Tesla suffered its worst share price fall in nearly five years.
Later, the president also said he would label violence against Tesla showrooms as domestic terrorism. Trump was responding to a question during a Tuesday press conference, in which a reporter said, “Talk to us about some of the violence that’s been going on around the country at Tesla dealerships. Some say they should be labeled domestic terrorists.”
“I will do that. I’ll do that,” Trump said. “I’m going to put a stop to it. Because they’re harming a great American company.”
Trump spoke on the White House driveway, alongside Musk and Musk’s young son. Several Tesla vehicles were parked in the driveway for Trump to pick which vehicle to buy. In August 2024, a podcaster gifted Trump a Cybertruck. On Tuesday, Trump selected a red Model S, which he said he would pay for by check.
“Elon Musk is ‘putting it on the line’ in order to help our Nation, and he is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! But the Radical Left Lunatics, as they often do, are trying to illegally and collusively boycott Tesla, one of the World’s great automakers, and Elon’s ‘baby,’ in order to attack and do harm to Elon, and everything he stands for,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Tuesday morning.
During the press conference, Trump reiterated these statements saying: “We already know who some of them are. We’re going to catch them, and they’re bad guys.”
Tesla’s shares fell sharply on Monday as markets reacted to the threat of a recession and Trump’s tariff plans. Tesla’s slide came amid widespread protests over the billionaire Musk’s influence in the federal government at Tesla dealerships, a boycott campaign, car owners selling their Tesla vehicles, and activists pushing members of the public to sell Tesla shares.
‘I’m selling the Nazi mobile’: Tesla owners offload cars after Musk’s fascist-style salutes Read more “In any event, I’m going to buy a brand new Tesla tomorrow morning as a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk, a truly great American. Why should he be punished for putting his tremendous skills to work in order to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN???”
Trump’s claim the boycott is “illegal” is false. The supreme court ruled in 1972 that the first amendment of the US constitution protects Americans’ right to protest against private businesses.
The group TeslaTakedown, which has been organizing the anti-Tesla protests nationwide, says people also have the right to protest peacefully on the sidewalks and streets in front of the company’s showrooms.
“Peaceful protest on public property is not domestic terrorism,” the group said in a statement. “We will not be bullied or allow our rights to be trampled on or stolen.”
Donald Trump holds notes on the pricing of Tesla vehicles as he talks about the company outside the White House on Tuesday. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images Musk’s net worth decreased by $29bn yesterday alone, and has fallen by $132bn over the past 12 months, as Tesla shares’ gains have been wiped out. Tesla shares have declined every week since Trump took office, declining 15% on Monday alone. He remains the richest man in the world with a fortune of more than $320bn, according to Forbes.
Tesla’s board members, including Musk’s brother Kimbal Musk, have offloaded millions of dollars worth of shares in recent months. Tesla vehicle sales abroad have also dropped significantly, including by 76.3% in Germany in February 2025 compared with February 2024.
The boycott has emerged as Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) has wreaked havoc throughout the federal government in a proclaimed effort to reduce federal spending. The access and actions by Musk and his team have incited concerns over the lack of transparency, false claims about cancelled contracts and grants and the amount of savings made.
Polls have shown public support for Doge is mixed to unfavorable, with the vast majority of Democratic voters polling that Musk has too much power.
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Tesla stock falls after Trump official urges Americans to ‘invest in Elon Musk’
Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick’s efforts to promote the tech CEO on Fox News backfired amid national protests
Donald Trump’s commerce secretary told Americans to buy stock in Elon Musk’s electric car company, only for shares in Tesla to keep falling.
“I think, if you want to learn something on this show tonight, buy Tesla,” Howard Lutnick told Fox News on Wednesday. “It’s unbelievable that this guy’s stock is this cheap. It’ll never be this cheap again.”
He added: “I mean, who wouldn’t invest in Elon Musk? You gotta be kidding me.”
Regarding Tesla at least, the answer appears to be: lots of people. In the last month, shares have lost a third of their value. After Lutnick spoke, Tesla was down again in pre-market trading on Thursday.
Musk donated hundreds of millions of dollars to Trump’s re-election campaign and is now slashing government staffing and budgets under the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) – work proving increasingly unpopular and damaging to his businesses. Amid protests that have included vandalism of Teslas and dealerships, Musk has claimed to have done nothing wrong.
On Tuesday, he told Fox: “It turns out when you take away the money people get fraudulently, they get very upset. They basically want to kill me because I’m stopping their fraud, and they want to hurt Tesla because we are stopping this terrible waste and corruption in the government. I guess they are bad people. Bad people do bad things.”
Republicans have attacked Democrats for speaking out against Tesla. Observers have pointed out how the same Republicans have attacked companies for promoting values they do not share, celebrating financial reverses.
Tesla’s problems continue to grow. Last week, JP Morgan said: “We struggle to think of anything analogous in the history of the automotive industry, in which a brand has lost so much value so quickly.”
This week, Dan Ives, managing director at Wedbush and a major Tesla backer, said brand damage caused by Musk’s work for Trump “has spread globally over the last few weeks into what we would characterize as a brand tornado crisis moment”.
Lutnick spoke to Jesse Watters, a Fox primetime host and Trump cheerleader.
“It’s just so outrageous,” the former Cantor Fitzgerald CEO said. “You have probably the best entrepreneur, the best technologist, the best leader of any set of companies in America working for America, and you have this sort of weird side of the Democratic party attacking him.”
Lutnick repeated the claim that Musk “rescued” astronauts from the International Space Station via his SpaceX company on Wednesday – yet in fact, Nasa chose to wait for SpaceX to be ready for the mission.
Lutnick urged viewers to “buy Tesla” and expressed disbelief about the shares’ performance.
He continued: “When people understand the things he’s building, the robots he’s building, the technology he’s building, people are going to be dreaming of today and Jesse Watters, thinking, ‘Gosh, I should have bought Elon Musk’s stock’ … Whether today’s the bottom or not, I tell you what, Elon Musk is probably the best person to bet on I’ve ever met. And I think we all know that.”
Lutnick and Watters then engaged in cheerful promotion of $30,000 robots for domestic chores that the commerce secretary said Musk would soon bring to market.
Concern is growing about conflicts of interest involving Musk and whether he is profiting from his government work. This week, as Musk’s Starlink internet service was installed at the White House, senior Democrats called for investigations.
Lutnick told Fox: “Elon Musk is the best entrepreneur and technologist in America, and I bet on him. I wish I was allowed [to buy Tesla stock]. I’m not allowed to buy any stock.”
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Trump floats sending Americans to foreign prisons. Civil rights groups say that would be illegal.
Trump suggested on Truth Social that people charged with attacking Tesla could serve time in “lovely” prisons in El Salvador.
The Trump administration has already sent migrants to El Salvador’s prisons, which has faced legal challenges. | Salvadoran government via Getty Images
President Donald Trump has repeatedly floated sending American prisoners to serve prison sentences outside the country — this time threatening the people charged with vandalizing Teslas.
Civil rights groups say the move is illegal and life-threatening.
Trump’s suggestion on Truth Social on Friday to send the Tesla attackers to El Salvador marks an escalation of his already controversial use of foreign prisons, this time potentially targeting American citizens.
If put into action, the administration is likely to face yet another legal battle as it pushes the bounds of executive power in what civil and prisoners’ rights organizations are calling a “constitutional crisis.”
“There’s no precedent to send U.S. citizens elsewhere outside the country, to serve sentences in other prisons,” Insha Rahman, the vice president of advocacy at the decades-old criminal justice reform organization Vera Institute of Justice, told POLITICO. “It is so beyond the pale of anything contemplated by the Constitution or due process or the criminal courts.”
Trump levied the threat on who he called “sick terrorist thugs” that have been charged with throwing Molotov cocktails and setting fire to Teslas around the country, as well as vandalizing Tesla property. The car company has become increasingly tied to the president, due to his close alliance with Tesla CEO and senior White House adviser Elon Musk.
The criminal charges, announced Thursday, came after weeks of demonstrations at Tesla showrooms protesting Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency’s mass layoffs. Many of the protests were peaceful, but there were instances of vandalism and arson.
Trump said he hopes those charged — which includes three people who are accused of setting or trying to set fire to cars or charging stations — will get 20 years of prison time.
“Perhaps they could serve them in the prisons of El Salvador, which have become so recently famous for such lovely conditions!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday.
The Trump administration has already sent migrants to El Salvador’s prisons, which has faced legal challenges.
So far, the administration has sent several hundred Venezuelan immigrants accused by the Trump administration of having gang affiliations to a Salvadoran prison known as CECOT, a Spanish acronym for the Terrorism Confinement Center. Human rights organizations have accused the center of having terrible conditions.
“In a bit of understatement, they’re pretty awful. They’re, by all accounts, incredibly overcrowded,” said John Raphling, a senior researcher on criminal justice for Human Rights Watch. “There’s severe brutality, even amounting to torture under international human rights law definitions, and people being held out of communication with anyone on the outside.”
Lawsuits seeking to challenge these deportations — and prevent future ones — to CECOT are ongoing. The Trump administration sent the men there with little notice, and lawyers for some of those there have said they have been falsely accused and provided no opportunity to make their case.
Raphling and other advocates cite severe violations of due process and inhumane conditions, including lack of access to adequate medical treatment and food, at prisons across El Salvador.
Trump floated the idea of shipping out violent criminals back in February. At the time he suggested the “most severe cases” could be sent overseas.
“I’m just saying if we had a legal right to do it, I would do it in a heartbeat,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I don’t know if we do or not, we’re looking at that right now.”
The White House declined to comment Friday.
The Department of Justice did not name the three individuals charged with the Tesla arson crimes Thursday, and did not immediately respond to questions about their identities on Friday. But three arrests previously announced by local U.S. Attorney’s offices appear to match Thursday’s announcements. Those three previous announcements did not make a reference to domestic terrorism charges.
But even if they were charged with domestic terrorism, advocates argue the move to essentially deport U.S. citizens to El Salvador would be illegal.
“There would immediately be a legal challenge,” Rahman told POLITICO. “And it’s very clear where the courts would go, as we’ve seen with Judge [James] Boasberg,” who ruled to freeze future deportations of migrants to El Salvador.
It would be a clear violation of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, according to Lauren-Brooke Eisen, the senior director of the justice program at the Brennan Center for Justice. The Constitution prohibits “cruel and unusual punishments” to protect criminals from serving excessive sentences or being subjected to inhumane prison conditions.
“It’s also critical to know that this move would be illegal under the First Step Act, as the law requires the federal government to make sure those convicted of federal crimes are sent to ‘a facility as close as practicable to the prisoner’s primary residence, and to the extent practicable, in a facility within 500 driving miles of that residence,’” Eisen told POLITICO in a statement.
It remains to be seen whether Trump will act on this threat of potentially jailing the alleged Tesla arsonists — or any other Americans charged or convicted of a crime — outside the country.
“It’s highly politicized what he’s doing,” Raphling said. “We’re gonna add extra punishment for you who engaged in vandalism against my crony, and it certainly is designed to put fear into people who are protesting lawfully.”
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Bondi, citing ‘domestic terrorism,’ announces charges for Tesla attacks
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has faced a backlash for DOGE’s moves to cut down the size of the federal government.
People participate in a "TeslaTakedown" protest against Elon Musk outside of a Tesla dealership in Irvine, California, on March 1, 2025. | Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the Department of Justice is charging three people for allegedly destroying Tesla cars or properties.
The charges come as Tesla has faced widespread protests and criticism in the last few weeks, tied to its CEO, Elon Musk, and the Department of Government Efficiency’s moves to remake the federal government.
“Let this be a warning: if you join this wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties, the Department of Justice will put you behind bars,” Bondi said in a press release on Thursday.
Widespread protests outside Tesla showrooms have broken out across the country to decry the moves by DOGE to ax agencies and institute mass layoffs.
Many have been peaceful, but there have also been instances of vandalism and complete destruction of cars.
The Department of Justice did not announce the names of those charged. The Justice Department alleged one defendant threw eight Molotov cocktails at a dealership in Salem, Oregon; another “attempted to light Teslas on fire” with Molotov cocktails in Loveland, Colorado.; and a third in Charleston, South Carolina, “wrote profane messages against President Trump around Tesla charging stations before lighting the charging stations on fire.”
The electric car brand has become increasingly affiliated with Donald Trump, thanks to Musk’s close alliance with the president. Trump made a show of buying a Tesla from Musk, elevating the car company with an event at the White House, which multiple Democrats criticized as an ethics violation. Some Democrats have made their own show of getting rid of their Teslas.
Bondi denounced the destruction of Teslas as “domestic terrorism” on Tuesday, and had said that several people were facing charges with five-year mandatory minimum sentences. Bondi told Fox News on Wednesday that more charges are coming.
Musk called the protesters “deranged” in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday. Trump also condemned the violence, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying Trump will enforce law and order in an interview with Fox News on Thursday.
“He will ensure that the harshest penalties are pursued for those who are engaging in this vicious violence,” Leavitt said.
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Seattle activist is getting in 'good trouble' clashing with Elon Musk
Threatening messages began filling up Valerie Costa’s inboxes after Elon Musk in an X post accused her of “committing crimes.”
Costa and her housemates started asking whether they are safe and whether the FBI or law enforcement will show up. She then began to pull the website for her fundraising and nonprofit management business offline and scrubbed her personal information from the internet.
Nevertheless, threats continued.
People sent her insults laced with profanities telling her to “go die already,” while others demanded FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi investigate her as a domestic terrorist. She began to feel paranoid, and she still finds herself looking over her shoulder, even though she feels it’s unlikely someone will come find her in public.
But it’s all “good trouble,” she said, evoking the words of the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis.
The Seattle area has seen some vandalism of Tesla vehicles, including Cybertrucks. President Donald Trump said last week that he wants to label violence against Tesla dealerships as domestic terrorism, a sentiment echoed by Bondi.
But no criminal activity has been reported at anti-Tesla protests in Seattle, said Sgt. Patrick Michaud with the Seattle Police Department.
Nevertheless, the lack of criminal activities at those protests hasn’t stopped Musk and others from accusing Costa and others of violating laws. Musk’s post on X quoted a video suggesting Costa was inspired by Luigi Mangione, the man charged in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO, which Costa said is not true.
Musk’s tweet and rhetoric from federal authorities communicate a grim message about the state of protections for the First Amendment, Costa said.
She scrubbed her personal information from the internet, but she won’t let Musk silence her.
“I think we’re at a pretty dangerous crossroads where our rights, our civil liberties are being challenged by this administration,” she said.
Costa, 43, was attending high school in Massachusetts when she first saw protest beget results.
As a member of her school’s Amnesty International group, Costa wrote letters to the Chinese Embassy and protested outside its New York City consulate, calling for the release of political activist Xu Wenli. Costa got to meet Xu in Boston when he was released in 2002. Xu thanked her and offered some green beans he had cooked, she said.
Decades later, Costa co-founded the Troublemakers in 2023 to organize against the use of fossil fuel before the group set its sights on Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency operations. Since Trump’s inauguration, Musk has slashed and gutted government agencies such as the U.S. Agency for International Development in his war against the federal bureaucracy.
“It became clear that Musk was taking his chain saw to government and (we saw) the very immediate impact to people in our community,” Costa said, recalling Musk literally waving a chain saw in the air at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference. “This is mostly about the people collectively having a voice when our government, and in particular Elon Musk, is so unaccountable to the people.”
The Troublemakers decided to join the #TeslaTakedown movement to hit the world’s richest man where it hurts, with the company’s stock prices plunging nearly 40% since the beginning of 2025 as of Thursday.
Seattleites own Teslas at a rate over two times the national average, and Costa even knows a good handful of Tesla owners, she said. It’s awkward as an opponent of fossil fuels to protest an electric car company, she further acknowledged in an interview with NPR, but that’s less of a concern than fighting against what Musk has been doing.
Costa and the Troublemakers knew they would come across opposition in their activism, she said.
Musk’s first post targeting Costa accused the Troublemakers of taking donations through the Democratic online political fundraising platform ActBlue, which she denied in her article in The Guardian, noting her organization has “about $3,500 in its bank accounts.”
When Musk again attacked Costa with an unsubstantiated accusation that she “is committing crimes,” she took that as “signs that this administration is trying to squash our First Amendment right to assemble, to free speech, to protest.”
Still, she had anticipated opposition might look like negative news articles or remarks from people online who thought their protests were “stupid and misguided,” not posts from Musk calling her a criminal. The group even arrived at the name “Troublemakers” playfully, Costa laughed.
But Costa said even if Musk did pick her out of a crowd to paint her as a criminal, that means the Troublemakers are following Lewis’ words to speak up and get in “good trouble.”
“If we cannot speak out against our government, against corporations, and if we’re criminalized and penalized for speaking out, then we are living in an authoritarian state and regime, and this is not a free country,” Costa said. “This is not a democracy if we can’t do that.”
And Costa believes Americans won’t give up without a fight.
Indivisible Valley, another Seattle-area group organizing anti-Tesla protests, considers it good that Musk and Trump are “getting riled up,” said spokesperson Marc Hoffman.
The Troublemakers has seen about 300 new members since Musk’s online attacks a couple of weeks ago, Costa said, and protests aren’t slowing down.
There are protests scheduled for six Tesla showrooms across the Seattle area Saturday, and about 130 more planned around the world in the coming weeks, she said.
That turnout has given Costa reason to power through the fear of retaliation from Musk and his supporters.
“We don’t like to be told what to do. We like our freedoms,” she said.
