The Musk/Tesla Backlash Is Starting To Bite Financially, Operationally

Tesla's share price has fallen 50% since mid-December - and dropped every week Musk has been in Washington, cutting jobs and programs. This comes on top of sales declines for all of 2024 and in the first weeks of 2025. 

And now people are protesting - and even torching or bombing - Tesla showrooms, charging stations and, especially, Cybertrucks, whose owners are joining an emotional support group on Facebook and want legal protection as an ownership class. This is what happens when you insult your customers, as well as taking jobs and benefits from hardworking people who did not elect you to do so. JL 

Bob Lefsetz reports in The Big Picture and Eve Upton-Clark reports in Fast Company:

Tesla sales are tanking. Significantly. And now people are attacking Tesla cars and dealerships. Cybertruck owners are joining a Facebook support group and want to be a (legally) protected class. "CEO’s politics erode brand’s appeal among some core buyers of electric vehicles; ‘I used to idolize the guy.' The string of violence against Tesla storefronts, charging stations and vehicles exacerbates the company’s woes, analysts said.” But really this is about frustration with the direction of the country under Trump’s rule.

The Big Picture  

This is UnitedHealthcare.

This is what happens when the Democratic leadership is somnambulant, people take matters into their own hands.

I don’t know if this news has made it into the right wing blogosphere. But in the mainstream press this week there have been all these stories about Tesla sales tanking. Significantly.

And now people are attacking Tesla cars and dealerships and…

We can’t say exactly how many people are responsible, but one thing is for sure, they’re tapping into an anger that permeates the left, if not some of the right too.

We could make this about Musk. Prognosticators believe it’s only a matter of time before he’s excised, that’s Trump’s style, but really this is about frustration with the direction of the country under Trump’s rule. The Democrats keep telling constituents to believe in the system. Meanwhile, Mike Johnson tells his minions to stop holding town halls.

In other words, the government may be losing control of the public, and that’s never a good sign. Trump’s approval ratings are dismal. And when people feel powerless…some take action. And just like with UnitedHealthcare, their behavior is endorsed by the general public and chaos rules.

You can’t paint someone else’s car. You can’t shoot bullets into a car dealership. But that’s what people are doing.

Now you could say that people have a right to express themselves… Which is what they said to Elon himself, who uttered some nonsense about private property and I’m not saying he’s wrong, but it’s no longer about the law, but about emotions.

Let’s take it further. You can’t take anybody’s job in America today. You can’t fire them. Talk to anybody in control at a corporation. Everywhere from the assembly line to concert promotion. In order to fire someone…you need a litany of documented misbehavior, and you still may have to pay them to go, to avoid a lawsuit. Forget what’s right, this is the situation.

AND ELON MUSK IS TAKING TONS OF PEOPLE’S JOBS!

Now what. Most people don’t have deep pockets like Elon. We keep reading how close everyone is to being broke, with only a few weeks’ money in the bank. You fire these people and they’re just going to shrug their shoulders and get on the bread line?

NO, THEY’RE GOING TO GET ANGRY!

This is what happens when you’re rich, both Trump and Elon, you’re out of touch with the public. Yes, yes, yes, Trump channeled the dissatisfaction of the blue collar workers and underclass, but don’t think he really knows anything about their lives. Do you know anybody rich? Especially those who grew up rich? Their experiences, their perspective is different. They don’t know what they don’t know.

As for Elon… He was squeezed out of PayPal for being an a**hole. His Teslas are responsible for more accidents per vehicle than any other brand because the self-driving software doesn’t work and sure, he blasted off a few rockets, but a bunch blew up too. And Canada just canceled its Starlink order. I mean why in the hell is this guy a hero? Not to mention he fires people willy-nilly.

And I’d be stunned if this anti-Tesla fervor is tolerated on X. It’s free speech for him, but not for the rest of us. Just like it’s socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor. Musk is the beneficiary of government money for SpaceX, but he’s gonna fire the asses of the hoi polloi?

Oh, he might rehire some people. But once bitten, twice shy. It’s not like these workers are going to breathe a sigh of relief when they get their jobs back, they’re going to keep looking over their shoulders, they’re going to clam up and protect their jobs first and foremost. And you’ve got Trump saying air traffic controllers should be MIT graduates. AT THAT PAY?? Like I said, he’s out of touch, he doesn’t know how Americans live, never mind not knowing how America works.

Consider this a news bulletin. Don’t blow back with right wing crap. If someone sets a Tesla on fire, that’s a fact, that’s happened. There are no alternative fact patterns here.

This is the Arab Spring moment I’ve been speaking of. When the government loses touch with the public, who knows what will happen, everything is up for grabs.

And that fruit vendor who started it all fifteen years ago… He was frustrated over his JOB, or lack thereof. He was a college graduate, and now he’s selling FRUIT?

I’m not saying that America does not have problems. I’m not saying that there’s no government waste. But you don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. And there’s no comprehension of the effects on people’s lives. Screw the country, most people only have one life and if you want to mess with their job, their health care, their quality of life, you’re going to hear about it.

It all comes down to income inequality. That’s what ails America. You can only keep the people down for so long. Many on the right want the government drowned in the bathtub because they want more money in their wallet. They can barely make ends meet.

And the great mass of the public has to be exposed to the lifestyles and shenanigans of the rich and famous and now you’re going to take things away from them?

Once again, if you want to see someone get angry, just take away their job. Now the entire nation is going to go postal!

Once again, don’t argue concepts with me, I’m just reporting the facts, which may have eluded you.

The “New York Times” just published this article:

“Rage Against Elon Musk Turns Tesla Into a Target” The backlash against the electric vehicle company has turned violent at times, as its billionaire chief executive parlays his support for President Trump into consequential influence over the federal government“

And the conservatives and progressives both hate the “Times,” because of opinions expressed on the editorial pages, but the reason the “Times” triumphs is because of its reporting. You’re getting opinion on talk radio, blogs and podcasts…when was the last time Joe Rogan ever did any reporting? But if you want to know what is going on… Just read the “Times.”

And it’s not only the “Times,” the “Washington Post” published this article today:

“Anger at Elon Musk turns violent with molotov cocktails and gunfire at Tesla lots” The string of violence against Tesla storefronts, charging stations and vehicles exacerbates the company’s woes, analysts said.”

And if you want to track Tesla’s waning fortunes, just read the “Wall Street Journal”:

“Tesla’s Fortunes Fall as Musk Rises in Trump World” CEO’s politics erode brand’s appeal among some core buyers of electric vehicles; ‘I used to idolize the guy’

We’ve skipped right past the nonviolent protests of the sixties to the activities of the Weathermen.

And things are much worse overall than they were in the sixties.

And if we can’t stop school shootings, how in the hell are we going to stop random acts of violence against Teslas…and who knows what else next.

People are sick and tired of their leaders. They’ve disappointed them again and again over decades. Do you think Democrats are going to trust and follow the mealy-mouthed politicians in D.C? Only those in the game take Kamala Harris’s run for California governor seriously. We’ve had enough of her, her inauthenticity, refusing to go on record and offend anybody, her word salad disappointing those who believe in progressive principles.

Ooh, the truth!

Losing your job has no political ideology. And it’s happening to those on both sides of the political spectrum.

Musk, et al, have lost control of the country. You want me to believe some inexperienced twentysomething knows more about my work than I do?

This is just the beginning…

 

Fast Company Cybertruck owners are having a tough time of it, increasingly saying that their $80,000-plus vehicles are the victims of cheese-related attacks and “anti-Nazi” harassment in response to Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s mass-firings role as head of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge). Now, one owner has taken matters into his own hands, calling on his congressman to demand it be labeled a hate crime to be mean to Tesla owners. 

“I find it deeply troubling that owning an American-made vehicle has made me—and many others—a target for unjustified hostility,” he wrote in a Facebook post last week. “I have personally experienced multiple alarming incidents. On one occasion, while driving on I-80, another driver deliberately attempted to run me off the road. In another unsettling encounter, while washing my car in my own driveway, a stranger drove up, hurled insults at me, and then left while running stops signs.” 

He believes these unsettling activities go beyond an issue of just property damage. “I urge you to consider legislative action that would increase penalties for these acts, potentially classifying them as hate crimes or enhancing legal consequences for individuals who engage in such behavior,” he continued. “No one should be harassed, threatened, or harmed based on the car they drive.”

404 Media recently reported on a Facebook group page for Cybertruck owners full of videos and photos of passersby and other drivers flipping them off, as well as people kicking their cars. One video taken from inside a Cybertruck shows a man throwing American cheese slices at its windshield. The comments are full of fellow Cybertruck owners suggesting the victim file a police report against the cheese-attacker. Attempts have also been made to dox the person by posting a screen grab of his face to social media. 

Police appear to be taking these pleas for protection seriously. One TikTok video from an International Women’s Day march in New York this weekend shows no less than nine police officers guarding the perimeter of a single Cybertruck. “Thought the Cybertruck was tough with a steel body and unbreakable glass,” one user commented. “Why does it need protection?” 

Wider Musk protests at Tesla dealerships have turned driving a Cybertruck into an intended, or unintended, statement. On Saturday, more than 350 demonstrators convened on a Tesla showroom in Manhattan as part of the nationwide “Tesla Takedown.” Protesters are encouraging shareholders and vehicle owners to dump their stock and sell their cars in response to Musk’s seeming slash-and-burn activities with DOGE. Tesla stock (Nasdaq: TSLA) has dropped about 40% since the beginning of the year, and was down 13% in midday trading Monday.  

For those who can’t afford to sell, they are coming up with creative solutions. Anti-Musk bumper stickers have been popping up on Etsy and topping Amazon bestseller lists. Regretful Tesla owners are grabbing up stickers that read, “I bought this before Elon was crazy,” “Anti Elon Tesla Club,” and “Elon ate my cat.”