Since Elon Musk took the helm of the Department of Government Efficiency under Donald Trump’s second administration two months ago, protests against him have spiked — some escalating into violent acts like torching Tesla dealerships, shooting up showrooms, and trashing charging stations.
In
Colorado, a woman hit a Tesla lot with Molotov cocktails; in Oregon, gunfire peppered a dealership; in Massachusetts, Superchargers burned.
These attacks, often by furious liberals over DOGE’s federal job cuts and Musk’s Trump alliance, aim to punish Musk. (Apparently liberals forgot that, according to Elaine Karmarck, the director of President Bill Clinton’s “Reinventing Government” initiative, Clinton eliminated 426,200 federal jobs during his tenure, but I digress.)
The liberal destruction of property makes little rational or economic sense when you weigh Tesla’s climate wins, the societal good from Musk’s other companies, and the self-inflicted wounds to regular people — especially those with pensions tied to Tesla’s success.
When conservatives disagree with a company, they refuse to drink their beer or buy their products. Democrats set cars and other property on fire. AGAIN.
In analyzing Musk’s contribution to the country, let’s start with Tesla itself. First, if these people damaging and torching cars REALLY believed in climate change, they would not be damaging EV cars and dealerships that they championed not long ago.
Some stats: There are over 4 million AMERICAN MADE Teslas sold as of 2023. These 4 million cars have slashed tailpipe emissions to zero, avoiding tens of millions of tons of CO2 (ONE gas car spits out 4.6 metric tons yearly).
Tesla’s factories churn out batteries like Powerwall and Megapack, making solar and wind power viable by storing energy for dark, still days. Tesla’s Solar Roof tiles further cut fossil fuel reliance. If climate change is TRULY their cause du jour (or yours), Tesla is the gold standard. Second, torching or damaging dealerships or cars don’t hurt Musk’s wallet (he’s still a billionaire), it slows positive climate improvements. The planet in on the line, after all!
Zooming out to Musk’s other ventures, the disconnect deepens. SpaceX recently rescued two astronauts who were stranded for 286 days in space! An incredible achievement that NASA was unable (or unwilling) to execute. SpaceX has revolutionized space travel with reusable Falcon 9 rockets, dropping launch costs from $100 million to under $60 million ($40 million saved by us taxpayers!), ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station, and beaming internet to remote corners via Starlink’s 6,000-plus satellites — aka Ukraine’s lifeline in 2022 — for all the Ukraine flag-waving lovers in Congress.
Musk’s Neuralink implants are in human trials, letting a quadriplegic control tech with their mind, hinting at eventual cures for paralysis. I mean, this is truly incredible research on the cutting edge, that would help tens of thousands of people, and Musk should be hurt because SOME people want government waste and bloat to continue.
Make it make sense!
These companies (and his others like The Boring Co. and xAI) aren’t Musk’s toys — they’re jobs (over 100,000 across his firms), tech quantum leaps, and innovative solutions to BIG problems for a better future.
Protesting DOGE by hitting Tesla ignores this broader good, punishing innovation for one man’s politics.
Now, the economic insanity: These attacks boomerang back on regular people — you and me.
Tesla’s stock — down 35% since January, partly from this unrest — sits in countless pension funds, mutual funds, and 401(k)s. CalPERS, a massive California public pension, held 1.5 million Tesla shares in 2023; teachers, firefighters and nurses nationwide have similar stakes through S&P 500 funds where Tesla’s a heavyweight. A 10% stock drop from Tesla due to this orchestrated chaos could erase $10 million from a mid-sized fund — real losses for retirees like our parents or friends trying to buy groceries or pay rent.
And duh, dealerships aren’t Musk’s personal piggy bank. Burn one down, and you’re gutting jobs for salespeople and mechanics, spiking insurance costs for yourself and your neighbors, and disrupting communities. Musk still gets paid for the cars; and insurance-paid replacements mean even more sales for him!
If you’re mad at DOGE’s cuts, why shrink your own nest egg or torch your neighbor’s livelihood?
The hypocrisy stings, too. Many liberals once cheered Tesla as a green icon — backed by Barack Obama’s $465 million loan — yet now trash it over Musk’s ties to Trump. Climate doesn’t care about DOGE or Musk’s tweets or anything else — the CO2 cuts speak for themselves. Or don’t they?
And lastly, from a strategy standpoint, these “protests” epically flop. Arson and vandalism alienate more than persuade. Turning Tesla owners or drivers into targets and risking “domestic terrorism” charges seems foolhardy. Peaceful “Tesla Takedown” rallies might dent stock or signal discontent, but violence just hardens divisions and most likely makes people support DOGE even more.
In summary, these “protests” misfire, hitting climate progress, local economies and pensioners instead of Musk. They are tantrums, not a tactic — hurting the planet and people more than the target.
Musk is not flawless (are any of us?) but his companies deliver undeniable, measurable wins for the climate, and for our neighbors, parents and friends.
If the goal is a better world as these people allegedly believe, and not just rage at Trump being president, this senseless, this moronic (self) sabotage must stop.
Denise Lite is a Santa Clarita resident. “Right Here, Right Now” appears Saturdays and rotates among local Republicans.
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