The Tesla Takedown movement is fighting back against claims made by Elon Musk and Donald Trump while protests are ramping up.
Earlier this week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk falsely accused the movement of Tesla protests to be financed by the Democratic Party’s ActBlue PAC, and President Trump tried to tie the protests with vandalism against Tesla vehicles and stores.
Trump went as far as claiming that “violence against Tesla dealership will be labeled as domestic terrorism.”
The Tesla Takedown movement has issued a statement in response to make it clear that they are against violence and destruction of property:
We are a nonviolent grassroots protest movement. We oppose violence and destruction of property. Peaceful protest on public property is not domestic terrorism. They are trying to intimidate us. We will not let them succeed.
Their intention is to continue peaceful protests and they are in no way associated with the destruction of property – nor is there any evidence that they have been.
Tesla Takedown account on BlueSky added:
“We will not be bullied or allow our rights to be trampled on or stolen. If you’re ready to show Donald Trump and Elon Musk that there are no kings in America, join a Tesla Takedown protest in your community this weekend.”
Several more protests are now being organized for the next few days and into the weekends.
There are currently dozens of protests planned at Tesla stores and charging stations in the US, Canada, and Europe in the coming days.
Electrek’s Take
This is a slippery slope. I certainly condemn the destruction of the property of Tesla owners or vehicles and locations owned by Tesla.
Top comment by Spec9
I dropped by the Palo Alto protest on Saturday and it was quite friendly and peaceful. People just stood on public property with signs and chanted things. The most confrontational thing would be people jeering "sell your car!" at Tesla cars that drove by.
With any group of people on any issue, there's a gaussian bell curve of opinions such that there are certainly some people with extreme views on both ends. There's certainly been some extremist against Elon that have committed sabotage against Tesla but that's not part of the movement and I view it as counterproductive as Tesla just collects insurance money, it alienates the public opinion, and endangers people. There's also extremists on the other end such as Trump and Musk that did a very unethical and embarrassing commercial for Tesla using the president and Whitehouse as props to help the world's richest man make more money. That richest man is literally taking USAID food aid away from starving children. How can any Republican call themselves a Christian while supporting that? It's completely against the teachings of Jesus Christ.
It’s dangerous, and it doesn’t help the Tesla Takedown cause, but it seems to be a stretch to label that “domestic terrorism.”
As far as I can tell, the movement has never called for it. They have only called for peaceful protests, and they shouldn’t be associated with actions taken by extremists.
People have reasons to be mad at Musk and Trump, who are targeting social security, calling government officials “traitors” for supporting Ukraine, and alienating entire nations with senseless trade wars.
If they attack things they care about, is it unfair for them to attack things Elon cares about?
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