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Elon Musk recently commented on the numerous attacks targeting Tesla dealerships and vehicles across the United States, calling for the arrest of the people allegedly funding the attacks. For the uninitiated, there has been an uptick in vandalism, arson, and protests against Tesla following Musk's governmental role after President Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election.
Musk currently heads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which was formed to curb government overspending, with one of the initiatives being massive federal layoffs. Following this, several Tesla cars and showrooms were vandalized, even as protestors organized peaceful demonstrations against Tesla and Musk.
On March 30, 2025, Elon Musk took to X to post a video of people protesting against Tesla on the streets, arguing with a man driving the company's Cybertruck. The tech billionaire captioned the video:
"It is time to arrest those funding the attacks. Arresting their puppets and paid foot-soldiers won’t stop the violence."
This echoed Elon Musk's remarks during an interview with Bret Baier of Fox News' Special Report on March 28, when he claimed that he and President Donald Trump were looking to take action against the people "pushing the lies and propaganda" against Tesla.
"The president has made it clear: We’re going after them. The ones providing the money, the ones pushing the lies and propaganda. We're going after them," Elon Musk said.
Elon Musk claimed the people "pushing the propaganda" are the "real villains"
During his interview with Fox News' Bret Baier, Elon Musk addressed the recent uprise of protest and vandalism against Tesla, claiming the "real villains" were the people "pushing the propaganda" against the company, not the vandalizers.
He also alluded that the Democrats were the alleged perpetrators, adding:
"The real problem is not the people. It's not like the crazy guy that firebombs a Tesla dealership. It's the people pushing the propaganda that cause that guy to do it. Those are the real villains here. They are being fed propaganda by the far left, and they believe it," Musk said.
Elon Musk added that Tesla was a peaceful company that made "great cars" and "great products" and was undeserving of being on the receiving end of violence. Musk's remarks came after both President Donald Trump and the FBI dubbed the violence against Tesla as "domestic terrorism."
During a press conference at the Oval Office on March 21, Trump branded the people attacking Tesla vehicles and showrooms as "terrorists," comparing the situation to the January 2021 attacks on the Capitol.
“I view these people as terrorists, just like others. When I looked at those showrooms burning and those cars — not one or two, like seven, eight, 10 burning, exploding all over the place. These are terrorists. You didn’t have that on Jan. 6, I can tell you,” he said.
Additionally, Kash Patel, the FBI director, recently announced that the Bureau was launching a task force to look into the attacks against Tesla. This came after a bomb squad discovered several incendiary devices at a Tesla dealership located in Austin.
On March 24, the FBI director took to X to announce the task force, writing:
“The FBI has been investigating the increase in violent activity toward Tesla, and over the last few days, we have taken additional steps to crack down and coordinate our response. This is domestic terrorism. Those responsible will be pursued, caught, and brought to justice.”
Despite the task force and warning from Trump, protests at nearly 200 Tesla showrooms all across the United States and internationally were planned on March 29, 2025, which was dubbed Tesla Takedown's Global Day of Action.
According to The Guardian, the protests aimed to send a message to Trump that they did not support Elon Musk's position in the government.
Tesla Takedown, a self-described decentralized grassroots movement, added that it will "protest Tesla for as long as Elon Musk continues to shred public services" on its organizing page. Since January 2025, Tesla's stock has gone down by 35%, and Musk's net worth has also suffered a 25% decrease.
