Protesters on Saturday plan to demonstrate at 200 Tesla showrooms around the globe, stressing that the protests will remain peaceful following a series of high-profile violent acts against Tesla cars and dealerships.
The protest is part of a “global day of action” and wider action from activists aiming to hit Tesla CEO Elon Musk in his pocketbook as retaliation for the aggressive and widespread cuts he has made to the federal government and spending through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an unofficial agency created through executive order by President Donald Trump.
The call to action, part of the “Tesla Takedown” protest movement, also has called on people to sell or dump Tesla stock in order to “tank” it.
Where Are the Tesla Protests Happening?
The protests will occur around the globe at some 200 Tesla showrooms, which accounts for around half of the total showrooms and galleries around the world. The U.S. alone has 276 dealers nationwide, while Tesla has 438 global stores and an additional 100 service centers.
The organizers have repeatedly stressed the peaceful nature of these protests in contrast to the several violent and high-profile incidents that have occurred in recent weeks involving Tesla showrooms and vehicles.
“Elon Musk is destroying our democracy, and he’s using the fortune he built at Tesla to do it. We are taking action at Tesla to stop Musk’s illegal coup,” organizers wrote on their website.
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How Violent Have Tesla Protests Been?
Since Musk serves as Tesla’s CEO during his DOGE work, protesters upset at his actions and involvement in the Trump administration have taken out their frustrations on Tesla and its cars.
Those protests have ranged from superficial vandalism such as spray-painting the vehicles to using incendiary devices and setting fire to showrooms and vehicles.
Some of the vandalism has included Nazi symbols in reference to the controversial gesture Musk made at Trump’s second inauguration, which many have interpreted as a Nazi salute. Other figures, such as Steve Bannon, have replicated the gesture and stirred similar ire, but none of them also possess the same level of influence and power Musk has.
Musk called the allegation that he did a Nazi salute a “dirty trick” by his critics.
Trump referred to the protests in a press gaggle, talking about seeing video of up to a dozen vehicles burning at a showroom in an act that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said was “nothing short of domestic terrorism.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) this week issued a public warning as protests continued, saying that such incidents have included “arson, gunfire, and vandalism, including graffiti expressing grievances against those the perpetrators perceive to be racists, fascists, or political opponents.”
“These criminal actions appear to have been conducted by lone offenders, and all known incidents occurred at night,” the FBI said in a statement. “Individuals require little planning to use rudimentary tactics, such as improvised incendiary devices and firearms, and may perceive these attacks as victimless property crimes.”
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Why Are People Protesting Elon Musk?
Musk has served as the face of Trump’s efforts to slash the federal government. Trump pledged during his campaign to lower prices for average Americans on “day one” of his second administration, and he viewed a reduction of federal spending and increase of energy production as two of the main prongs to do so.
Musk and his team of young proteges, which included members as young as 19 years old, set to work gaining access to extremely sensitive personal data of Americans, including Social Security and taxpayer info.
DOGE has remained bogged down in lawsuits as various labor and rights groups seek legal recourse to prevent the team from accessing and allegedly abusing the data. Last week, a U.S. district judge blocked DOGE from accessing personal information contained in the Social Security Administration (SSA).
DOGE’s impact has proven far larger than that, however. Musk has also spearheaded the reduction of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which the administration has tried to fold into the State Department.
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Trump said Friday that he would look to provide aid to the victims of a devastating earthquake that hit Myanmar and Thailand, but a former USAID official who oversaw disaster-response teams under the Biden administration told The Associated Press this week those systems are “in shambles” following the administration’s cuts, now lacking people or resources to move quickly to assist in disasters.
At the same time, critics have noted that Musk’s cuts to the federal government occur as he continues to increase his own federal government contracts, reportedly making $8 million a day from those contracts alone. The State Department also faced criticism for potentially agreeing to purchase $400 million-worth of armored cybertrucks, which did not occur in the end.
Some have even referred to the tech mogul as “President Musk” for his seeming unchecked involvement in the current administration: He attended a Cabinet meeting and visited the Oval Office dressed in a T-shirt and baseball cap while Republicans criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for his attire when he visited the White House. Musk even addressed reporters while standing beside Trump behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.
What Is Happening With Tesla’s Stock?
Tesla has gone through a tumultuous period, with the stock price initially surging in the summer of 2024 as Musk got more involved in the U.S. presidential election. In April 2024, the stock hit a low of $142.05 per share, but by July 2024 the stock was hit a high of $263.26 per share.
Following Trump’s win, Tesla’s stock nearly doubled in value and hit a high of $479.86 per share, leveling off shortly thereafter at around $400 a share.
However, once Trump took office and Musk took his chainsaw to the federal government, the stock started to slide, accelerated by February’s massive decline in the overall stock market. The market entered a “correction,” which occurs once the market has lost 10 percent of value.
By early March, Tesla’s stock had hit a low of $222.15 a share, whipping out any gains from the post-election rally but keeping the stock above its 2024 low.
As of close of business on Friday, the stock settled at $263.55 per share.
