Violent attacks on Tesla dealerships spike as Musk takes prominent role
in Trump White House
[March 19, 2025] By
JONATHAN J. COOPER and GENE JOHNSON
SEATTLE (AP) — Cybertrucks set ablaze. Bullets and Molotov cocktails
aimed at Tesla showrooms.
Attacks on property carrying the logo of Elon Musk's electric-car
company are cropping up across the U.S. and overseas. While no injuries
have been reported, Tesla showrooms, vehicle lots, charging stations and
privately owned cars have been targeted.
There has been a clear uptick since President Donald Trump took office
and empowered Musk to oversee a new Department of Government Efficiency
that is slashing government spending. Experts on domestic extremism say
it's impossible to know yet if the spate of incidents will balloon into
a long-term pattern.
In Trump’s first term, his properties in New York City, Washington and
elsewhere became a natural place for protest. In the early days of his
second term, Tesla is filling that role.
“Tesla is an easy target,” said Randy Blazak, a sociologist who studies
political violence. “They’re rolling down our streets. They have
dealerships in our neighborhoods.”
Musk critics have organized dozens of peaceful demonstrations at Tesla
dealerships and factories across North America and Europe. Some Tesla
owners, including a U.S. senator who feuded with Musk, have vowed to
sell their vehicles.
But the attacks are keeping law enforcement busy.
Prosecutors in Colorado charged a woman last month in connection with a
string of attacks on Tesla dealerships, including Molotov cocktails
thrown at vehicles and the words “Nazi cars” spray-painted on a
building.
And federal agents in South Carolina last week arrested a man they say
set fire to Tesla charging stations near Charleston. An agent from the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives wrote in an
affidavit that authorities found writings critical of the government and
DOGE in his bedroom and wallet.
“The statement made mention of sending a message based on these
beliefs,” the agent wrote.
A number of the most prominent incidents have been reported in
left-leaning cities in the Pacific Northwest, like Portland, Oregon, and
Seattle, where anti-Trump and anti-Musk sentiment runs high.
An Oregon man is facing charges after allegedly throwing several Molotov
cocktails at a Tesla store in Salem, then returning another day and
shooting out windows. In the Portland suburb of Tigard, more than a
dozen bullets were fired at a Tesla showroom last week, damaging
vehicles and windows, the second time in a week that the store was
targeted.
Four Cybertrucks were set on fire in a Tesla lot in Seattle earlier this
month. On Friday, witnesses reported a man poured gasoline on an
unoccupied Tesla Model S and started a fire on a Seattle street.
In Las Vegas, several Tesla vehicles were set ablaze early Tuesday
outside a Tesla service center where the word “resist” was also painted
in red across the building’s front doors. Authorities said at least one
person threw Molotov cocktails — crude bombs filled with gasoline or
another flammable liquid — and fired several rounds from a weapon into
the vehicles.
“Was this terrorism? Was it something else? It certainly has some of the
hallmarks that we might think — the writing on the wall, potential
political agenda, an act of violence,” Spencer Evans, the special agent
in charge of the Las Vegas FBI office, said at a news conference. “None
of those factors are lost on us.”
Tesla becomes a target for the left
Tesla was once the darling of the left. Helped to viability by a $465
million federal loan during the Obama administration, the company
popularized electric vehicles and proved, despite their early
reputation, that they didn’t have to be small, stodgy, underpowered and
limited in range.
More recently, though, Musk has allied himself with the right. He bought
the social network Twitter, renamed it X and erased restrictions that
had infuriated conservatives. He spent an estimated $250 million to
boost Trump’s 2024 campaign, becoming by far his biggest benefactor.
Musk continues to run Tesla — as well as X and the rocket manufacturer
SpaceX — while also serving as Trump’s adviser.
Tesla stock doubled in value in the weeks after Trump’s election but has
since shed all those gains.
[to top of second column] |
A member of the Seattle Fire Department inspects a burned
Tesla Cybertruck at a Tesla lot in Seattle, Monday, March 10, 2025.
(AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File)
 Trump gave a boost to the company
when he turned the White House driveway into an electric vehicle
showroom. The president promoted the vehicles and said he would
purchase an $80,000 Model S, eschewing his fierce past criticism of
electric vehicles.
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment. Musk briefly
addressed the vandalism Monday during an appearance on Sen. Ted
Cruz’s podcast, saying “at least some of it is organized and paid
for” by “leftwing organizations in America, funded by leftwing
billionaires, essentially.”
“This level of violence is insane and deeply wrong,” Musk wrote
Tuesday on X, sharing a video of burning Teslas in Las Vegas. “Tesla
just makes electric cars and has done nothing to deserve these evil
attacks.”
The progressive group Indivisible, which published a guide for
supporters to organize “Musk Or Us” protests around the country,
said in a statement that all of its guidance is publicly available
and “it explicitly encourages peaceful protest and condemns any acts
of violence or vandalism.”
Some Tesla owners have resorted to cheeky bumper stickers to
distance themselves from their vehicle’s new stigma, and perhaps
deter would-be vandals. They say things like “I bought this before
we knew Elon was crazy,” or “I just wanted an electric car. Sorry
guys.”
Prices for used Cybertrucks, Tesla’s most distinctive product, have
dropped nearly 8% since Trump took office, according to CarGurus,
which aggregates used car vehicle listings. The market as a whole
remained steady over the period.
The White House vows a crackdown
The White House has thrown its weight behind Musk, the
highest-profile member of the administration and a key donor to
committees promoting Trump's political interests. Trump has said
Tesla vandalism amounts to “domestic terror,” and Trump has
threatened retribution, warning that those who target the company
are “going to go through hell.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi said she’d opened an investigation “to
see how is this being funded, who is behind this.”
“If you’re going to touch a Tesla, go to a dealership, do anything,
you better watch out because we’re coming after you,” Bondi said
Friday on Fox Business Network. In a statement Tuesday, she vowed to
“continue investigations that impose severe consequences,” including
for “those operating behind the scenes to coordinate and fund these
crimes.”
Colin Clarke, a senior research fellow at the Soufan Center, said
left-wing political violence tends to target property rather than
people. He views the rise of neo-Nazi groups as a bigger security
threat at this point.
“I’s not the type of act that I would prioritize,” Clarke said. “Not
right now compared to all the other threats that are out there.”
Theresa Ramsdell is the president of the Tesla Owners of Washington
state, a club for Tesla enthusiasts, and she and her husband own
three of them.
“Hate on Elon and Trump all you want — that’s fine and dandy, it’s
your choice,” she said. “It doesn’t justify ruining somebody’s
property, vandalizing it, destroying it, setting it on fire. There’s
other ways to get your voice heard that’s more effective.”
Someone recently slapped a “no Elon” sticker on the tailgate of her
Cybertruck, but she said she doesn’t intend to stop driving her
Teslas. Other club members have taken a similar view, she said.
“I love my car. It’s the safest car,” Ramsdell said. “I’m not going
to let somebody else judge me for the car I drive.”
___
Cooper reported from Phoenix.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
