Over the past few weeks, anti-Trump activists have been attacking Tesla vehicles and dealerships in protest against Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO who is now heading up Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency.
No doubt those attacking Musk and Tesla see themselves as brave, left-wing warriors striking a blow against American oligarchy. Some of those involved even refer to themselves as a ‘peaceful grassroots movement’, despite being about as peaceful as a riot. Attackers are smashing up people’s cars, throwing Molotov cocktails at charging stations and staging takeovers of showrooms.
Much of the mainstream media, their loathing of Trump still burning strong, have portrayed the Tesla attackers sympathetically. They have denied, as NBC did the other week, any evidence of the ‘coordinated vandalism of Teslas’. This is despite the existence of a group called Tesla Takedown, which is calling for ‘biggest day of action’ yet on 29 March, including ‘500 demonstrations at all 278 Tesla showrooms as well as Supercharger stations’. Elsewhere, one liberal newspaper characterised the attacks as a righteous expression of ‘popular anger’ against a tech billionaire.
The Democratic political elites aren’t much better. During her current series of rallies with Bernie Sanders, representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been eagerly denouncing ‘the oligarchy’ that Musk is a part of, presumably forgetting her own party’s deep ties to America’s tech billionaires. Elsewhere, the failed vice-presidential candidate, Minnesota governor Tim Walz, proudly shared his glee at Tesla’s stock price plummeting in recent weeks – despite the fact that the Minnesota state-pension funds own ‘more than 1.6million shares in Tesla’. He is literally rooting against his own staff.
A friend who lives in one deep blue state remarked to me recently that Musk Derangement Syndrome has become even worse – if such a thing is possible – than Trump Derangement Syndrome. Too many seem to be revelling in the mob violence against Teslas. This is made even more remarkable given these same people have spent the past few years worshipping at the altar of green energy, turning owning an EV into the ultimate virtue-signal. Even AOC used to own a Tesla.
In one particularly bizarre incident, one man was so incensed when he spotted a random Tesla parked on a street in Brooklyn that he jumped out of his own car and scrawled a swastika and Musk’s name on it. It turned out that the car was owned by a Jewish man. For his pathetic act, the demented man was arrested and charged with aggravated harassment.
While many of the attacks on dealerships and charging stations have been unquestionably violent, some of the protests have just been pathetic. According to the Verge, protesters outside a Tesla showroom in Manhattan’s expensive Meatpacking District shouted ‘uncool car’, ‘major loser’ and – my personal favourite – ‘micro penis, micro penis’. That’ll show Musk.
By and large, those attacking Teslas seem driven less by any coherent political goal than by a personal hatred of Musk, or by a thirst for vengeance that now seems to be the hallmark of far too many on the liberal left.
No one has to like Elon Musk, let alone agree with his politics. Yet those attacking Teslas don’t just disagree with him, or his role in Donald Trump’s government. They also seem to see Musk as an embodiment of evil, as an existential threat. What we’re seeing play out is not really politics as we once knew it. It’s more like a psychotic episode on a grand scale.
Jenny Holland is a former newspaper reporter and speechwriter. Visit her Substack here
