People across the US and Canada turned up at Tesla dealerships this weekend to protest Elon Musk and the Trump administration. The swarm of protests was part of a call to action to discourage people from buying Muskmobiles, and to get rid of any they might already own.
There were around 200 protests at Tesla dealerships scheduled Saturday. Hundreds turned up in San Francisco and New York. Photos on social media show protests in Austin and Dallas also drew large crowds. Cleveland drew not only protesters, but also bootlicking counter-protesters.
In the greater greater DC area there's a been a protest just about every Saturday for weeks, though most media outlets haven’t bothered covering them. The company's stock has lately been in a tailspin, and Trump's White House Toyotathon of Teslas didn't help. Nearly all of Musk’s polygonal perversion, the Cybertruck, have been recalled, this time because they used the wrong glue. The internet proliferates with pictures of Tesla owners trying to disguise their vehicles with alternate logos, or putting clarifying stickers on their cars, to prevent them from being vandalized. In a few isolated instances that have nothing to do with the #TeslaTakedown protests, a few Teslas have been set on fire.
Don't do that. For one thing, electric vehicle fires more dangerous than a normal car-b-que. For another thing, just don’t do that.
In Owings Mills, Maryland, just outside of Baltimore, hundreds of people showed up . They stood on the side of the main drag, Reisterstown Road with the kind of signs that only Baltimore could bring to bear. There was an elaborate snake with a dollar sign. One quoted the late civil rights legend, Rep. John Lewis. One showed the city’s iconic trash interceptor, Mr. Trash Wheel, eating Musk’s name. Yet another sign simply read, "Peg Elon."
When I arrived, it was immediately clear that this group had a grip on the often overlooked of logistics of protesting, like parking or where to stand. Tesla obviously did not want anyone on its property, and the small plaza next door was threatening to tow people off its lot. So several hundred people simply parked in the empty office complex around the corner and walked over.
They lined the sidewalk on both sides of the street. Volunteers in yellow vests made sure people didn't get too close to the street. People bought dozens of doughnuts from the coffee joint in the plaza. Others brought half a dozen pizzas and cases of water from Costco.
Amid chants like, "Not oligarchs, no fascists," a never-ending cacophony of car horns blared for two hours. It wasn't just sympathetic passersby in pickups and sedans. A passing dump truck blared an air horn that sent the crowd roaring. A fire engine full of grinning firefighters dragged a long series of blurps in solidarity. Even (allegedly) sympathetic Tesla owners drove past offering a thumbs up and support.
While Musk’s lebensborn work to dismantle the federal government, Musk and his supporters have tried to paint the protesters as domestic terrorists, but this crowd was full of entirely peaceful people young and old. A detachment of Baltimore County police was helping elderly folks cross the busy street.
Kim Kupcinski, 37, and her husband, Andrew, 41, of Bel Air, Maryland, brought their two children. They stood together with handmade signs waving at cars passing by.
"This is not the country we want for our kids," Kim said. "We need to bring back the tenets of democracy."
A man in a bright red leotard and ski goggles was hobbling along on crutches and with a boot. On his chest was a small sign that read "Tesla Stock." He had written, "DJT" and "Bondi" on his crutches, respectively.
When I asked him what exactly he was supposed to be portraying, he straightened his spine and threw his head back in shock.
"I'm Tesla's stock," the man said, identifying himself as "Peter," a Baltimore area resident. "I got the shit beat out of me. What's it look like?"
Peter was hobbling up and down the line of protesters wailing that Pam Bondi would soon put an end to all this obnoxious "free speech."
"Enjoy it while you can," Peter said.
Peter flipped between satire and earnest liberal-ness, saying "I hate Elon" in one breath and "All these damn people won't buy my cars" in the next.
Dropping the act for a moment, Peter encouraged other people to show up to protests and make their voices heard.
"More people should come out," Peter said. "If they're feeling helpless or hopeless ... We'll get it back. It'll take time, but we'll get it back."
[Baltimore Banner / CBC / NPR]
Please pardon the concern trolling, but my line of work involves investigating accidental fires, and lithium battery fires are among the worst. So be careful with all that.
Protest at Tesla dealerships, yes.
Boycott Tesla, yes.
But please don’t vandalize Tesla card or harass Tesla owners. I bought my Tesla 3 in 2021. That’s not an endorsement of Elon. No, I wouldn’t buy another Tesla today. But getting rid of it right now is not an option.