Why are people firebombing Teslas?
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Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Elon Musk podcast. This is a show where we discuss the critical crossroads that shape SpaceX, Tesla, X, The Boring Company, and Neuralink. And I'm your host, Will Walden. If you want uninterrupted episodes of the Elon Musk podcast, please go to clubelon.supercast.com to find out how. There's a link in the show notes.

Tesla, once the darling of eco-conscious tech enthusiasts, now finds itself at the center of a national brawl. And not a metaphorical kind. Showrooms have been torched. Vehicles have been keyed, spray-painted, even shot at. Molotov cocktails, arrests, and armed police patrols now mingle with showroom models and promotional banners. The damage is real, the mode is murky, and the questions only pile up. Is this about Elon Musk's politics? No.

Is Tesla being punished for its CEO's involvement in government cost cutting? Or is this simply what happens when a high-profile billionaire takes sides in America's endless culture war? Whatever the truth is, one thing's clear: Tesla's going through something. And it's not just another bad quarter. Elon Musk hasn't been shy about why he thinks this is happening.

In his telling, Tesla is under assault because of his role in the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE, and it tasks itself with ruining out wasteful federal spending. And Musk has taken the job seriously. Now, apparently, Elon is taking it way too seriously.

Now, Musk said on Fox News, they basically want to kill me because I'm stopping their fraud and they want to hurt Tesla because we're stopping the terrible waste and corruption in the government. Now, that's a bold accusation without evidence, but one that fits neatly into the narrative that Musk has been building, that his political involvement has made him a target and Tesla is now collateral damage.

To fight back, Tesla is rolling out a two-pronged response. First, the company has beefed up security at dealerships, including visible police presence at some locations. And one such example is the Las Vegas showroom on Sahara Boulevard, now guarded by officers from the Las Vegas Metro Police Department. Second, Tesla is fully deploying its Sentry Mode technology across all vehicles.

system that uses onboard cameras to monitor and record suspicious activity, effectively turning every parked Tesla into its own surveillance outpost. And the tech is already paying off. On March 20th, Musk posted footage captured by a Tesla Sentry Mode showing a man carving a swastika into the paint of one of his vehicles.

That man was later arrested and, if convicted, could face up to 18 months in prison. Musk responded in characteristically blunt fashion, not smart to attack Teslas. Subtlety, as always, not his strong suit. Social media has turned into a war zone on its own, with users from X and rival platforms like Blue Sky trading accusations and conspiracy theories.

Tesla Radia, Tesla Focus news outlet summed it up bluntly. They said, it is literal insanity that we have cops guarding Tesla dealers because people can't have a different opinion in peace. Now, what was once a company showroom is now a symbol in a larger political fight.

complete with law enforcement arrests and ideological clashes. Some of the fury appears to stem from the so-called Tesla takedown movement. Originally organized on Blue Sky, the campaign calls on Tesla owners to sell their vehicles and ditch the company's stock in protest of Musk's political affiliations.

not just hashtags and slogans. Now, demonstrators have shown up outside Tesla stores coordinating protests worldwide and even launched a website that maps protest locations.

For Tesla owners caught in the middle, it's becoming an uncomfortable situation. Not only are they worried about physical damage to their vehicles, but some are also facing a strange kind of social backlash. One sticker gaining popularity among Tesla drivers reads, I bought this before we knew Elon was crazy. It's a meme, but it speaks to something real, a sense of kind of a buyer's remorse rooted not in product quality, but in association with Elon Musk.

Now, there are financial ramifications too. Tesla shares have already slid about 45% this year. Yet, despite the public chaos, Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Andres Shepard recently upgraded Tesla's stock. After visiting the company's Cortex-EI centers and its Gigafactory in Texas, Shepard saw material catalysts on the horizon, namely the gnawing-anticipated Robotaxi rollout scheduled for June in Austin.

And if the technology lives up to the billing, it could jolt the stock back up. But in the meantime, these glimmers of future success are being overshadowed by a wave of political blowback and security headaches. From a legal standpoint, the response is escalating fast. President Trump has publicly declared he might classify the dealership attacks as acts of domestic terrorism.

He said, they're bad guys. They're the same guys who screw around with our schools and universities. We're going to catch you and you're going to go through hell. Now, colorful as always, but the message is clear. The administration plans to treat these incidents not just as vandalism, but as threats to national security. And the Justice Department followed suit. On March 19th, it formally designated the vandalism spree as nothing short of domestic terrorism.

That designation opens the door for more aggressive prosecutions and harsher penalties, including the use of anti-terrorism statutes. Now, for suspects, that means the possibility of longer sentences, higher bail, and less leniency in plea deals.

And police departments from across multiple states have already made arrests. In Colorado, one woman faces several charges, including use of explosives during a felony after allegedly targeting a Tesla facility. These aren't misdemeanor slaps on the wrist, though. This has real consequences, and it suggests that local law enforcement is fully aligned with the federal crackdown.

And while Tesla tries to secure its real estate, it must also confront an intangible but no less dangerous threat: reputational fallout. For many, driving a Tesla now feels like a political statement, one they never signed up for. This isn't just brand polarization, it's literal danger for customers.

Some owners are now hiding their cars in garages or removing Tesla logos altogether, trying to avoid becoming the next target. And the company's public image is further complicated by Musk's personal remarks. During the same Fox News appearance, he said, I always thought that the left, you know, Democrats were supposed to be the party of empathy, the party of caring, and yet they're burning down cars, they're firebombing dealerships, they're firing bullets into dealerships, they're smashing up Teslas.

Now, it's a clear attempt to draw a direct line between political affiliation and criminal activity, which is a tactic that risks alienating potential customers as much as it rallies its base. And even inside the protest movement, there's concern about the optics. Organizers who claim their opposition is peaceful now face the challenge of disassociating from criminal behaviors.

The Tesla takedown may have started as a symbolic protest, but the violence threatens to hijack its message. Once firebombs are involved, the lines between activism and extremism are blurred. And that has legal, moral, and strategic consequences.

Some analysts think the situation could force Tesla to change how it does business. Beyond more cameras and more police, the company may have to invest in entirely new systems. Maybe drone patrols, panic alert buttons, hardened dealership designs, or even remote deterrents like noise or light cannons. Those are all absurd. But, you know, the times we live in are pretty absurd. People are firebombing Tesla showrooms.

It's an evolution of a car company, but it's also the evolution of a movement against Elon Musk.

Tesla's internal staff is also at risk. Showroom employees, mechanics, and service technicians are now kind of unofficial security guards, often without training. The company may need to start offering hazard pay, insurance coverage, or even trauma counseling. Not exactly standard perks in the car business. And every dollar spent protecting infrastructure is the dollar not spent on manufacturing, and the time they spend on these issues is not spent on

on making better vehicles, R&D, manufacturing, or market expansion. At the root of all this remains Musk's role in Doge, a role that draws enemies, real or perceived. Since January, Doge has investigated programs like Social Security for waste and fraud. Musk insists the backlash is orchestrated by people who benefit from the so-called fraudulent spending, but no proof has been provided by Ulan.

It's an allegation that fits his political rhetoric, but it doesn't replace the need for evidence. What's not in dispute is the risk faced by ordinary people, the people working at Tesla, the people driving Tesla cars. Whether you're a Tesla enthusiast, an investor, or just someone who happened to buy a Tesla way back in 2021 because of a good lease deal, you're now part of something bigger. Not by choice, though.

and not with much warning. But the minute your vehicle became a symbol, your garage became a potential battleground. Now,

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This is still a business and it needs to find a way to keep selling cars without turning each sale into a political Rorschach test. The company's next step will likely include possibly more security and more PR, positive PR. But what it needs more is less chaos. For now, that seems a long way off though. These protests will continue as long as Elon is involved with the government and Trump. Now,

Political protests are happening against Elon. They're spiraling into violent vandalism, prompting the company and the government to respond with countermeasures, arrests, and new questions about the cost of political engagement in corporate leadership by Elon Musk and Tesla.

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