President Donald Trump said he will label violence against Tesla dealers as domestic terrorism, following a transcript shared by White House pool reporters.
“Tesla Takeovers” is erupting around the world of Tesla dealers as people protest what is considered a hostile federal takeover by Musk and his Government Efficiency (DOGE). Some of the protests have brought graffiti to Tesla signs, ignited charging stations, and even Molotov cocktails are thrown into one dealer lot.
The protests and vandalism are below where Tesla’s stock prices hit hard and Trump won the presidential election in November 2024 and surged over the same period, worsening the stock market as a whole. Tesla has also seen a global dip in sales as the brand suffers from political exploitation of musks.
“I’m going to stop them,” Trump said of people who committed violence against Tesla’s property. He spoke to Musk at the White House on Tuesday. “We’re going to catch people doing this because they’re damaging a great American company.”
“And let me tell you,” Trump continued. “You do it to Tesla, and you do it to any company, we’ll catch you, and you’ll go through hell.”
According to federal law, an attack on a company’s property could be considered domestic terrorism if it is intended to blackmail or force civilians, affect government property, or affect government conduct through destruction, assassination, or trickery.
As Tesla protests evolved over the past few weeks, the effort has combined with what is now known as “#Teslatakedown,” which describes itself as a decentralized grassroots movement.
In a statement to TechCrunch, the movement organizers said, “The right to peaceful protest is a fundamental part of American democracy.”
“By selecting his biggest donor business as if it were not his democracy, Trump is showing him again who he is: a corrupt king. Americans don’t support it,” they wrote. “We are a non-violent grassroots protest. We oppose violence and the destruction of property. Peaceful protests against public property are not domestic terrorism. They are trying to intimidate us. We won’t make them succeed.”
The risks ahead will be how Trump and Musk define violence, and whether peaceful protesters will be labeled violence in the future. Trump has pledged to send international students to take part in protests against Israeli war in Gaza.
Since Trump issued an executive order in January to form Doge, an advisory committee that significantly cuts government spending, Musk has donated $260 million to Super PACs to elect Trump, but has overseen widespread layoffs for government workers, overseeing the removal of an entire agency like USAID, fostering an environment of anger, fear, confusion and confusion.
Musk has been focusing on other agencies for “deletion,” but his critics will point out that his company benefits directly from government contracts and incentives. SpaceX, for example, has received more than $20 billion in contracts from NASA, the Department of Defense and other federal agencies, according to data from USASPENDING.GOV.
Trump said Tuesday that he “will not be allowed” to drive, but would buy a Tesla if it was used in the White House by his staff.
“I think he’s been treated very unfairly by a very small group of people,” Trump said. “And I want people to know that he is not punished for being a patriot.”
This story was updated with comments from the organizers of #teslatakedown.
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