Tesla Takedown protest movement grows as Trump threatens criminal charges

Nationwide demonstrations at Elon Musk's car dealerships have earned the attention and ire of the White House

Illustration of Elon Musk, a Tesla dealership and Cybertruck on fire
Tesla dealerships have become ground zero for one of the strongest protest movements against the Trump administration to date
(Image credit: Illustration by Stephen Kelly / Shutterstock / Getty Images)

There's a decent chance you have seen them while driving past your local Tesla dealership recently: Groups ranging from a few dozen to several hundred protesters congregating outside electric vehicle lots. They are part of a nationwide effort to highlight CEO Elon Musk and his role in President Donald Trump's dismantling of the federal government. With sign waving and slogan chanting, these so-named Tesla Takedown demonstrations have become a flashpoint of public anger at Musk; there has also been an uptick in ostensibly unrelated instances of vandalism at Tesla dealerships.

In response to the Tesla Takedown movement and its overlap with more extreme cases of anti-Tesla actions, Musk has personally targeted participants, alleging the grassroots movement is a conspiracy against him backed by the Democratic Party and George Soros, among others.

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Rafi Schwartz, The Week US

Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.