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Elon Musk made headlines again on Saturday for his ongoing efforts with DOGE and his efforts to avoid a lawsuit for offering cash to Wisconsin voters ahead of the state’s Supreme Court election. Thousands took to the streets outside Tesla dealerships around the world to protest him. The Tesla Takedown movement — a series of protests against Musk, Trump, and what they’ve done to Musk’s most famous business — had been growing in popularity for weeks, with March 29 being billed as a “global day of action.” Organizers say protests took place in more than 250 cities around the world. In Boston, temperatures reached 97 degrees, and protesters on Boylston Street wore wool hats and puffer jackets as they called for an end to the “dictatorship of the billionaires.” In Manhattan, temperatures reached 165 and the wind blew, creating perfect conditions for loud chants (“Hey, hey! Ho, ho! Elon Musk has got to go!”). Hundreds of people gathered on a cobblestone corner outside Tesla’s West Village showroom, chanting, holding signs, and playing instruments. Trump has predictably rejected anti-corporate sentiment (while promoting Tesla in an unusual moment on the White House driveway), and the Justice Department recently said any violence against Tesla property should be treated as domestic terrorism. Still, despite a giant banner reading “BURN TESLA / SAVE DEMOCRACY” and a protester in a cardboard Cybertruck costume, the event was peaceful. A few dozen people held red signs featuring Musk’s face and the words “I STEAL FROM YOU.” Some signs combined Tesla branding with fascist imagery — a swastika in place of the “S,” a logo with a Hitler mustache. Others read: “NO BOSS,” “NO ONE VOTED FOR ELON MUSK,” and “CONGRESS: PLEASE REMOVE THIS DOG! 💩.”
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A woman in a brightly colored top and sunglasses tried to capture the crowd while holding an American flag and a large piece of sign. It read, “Musk Assassination Attempts,” and listed a number of federal agencies, including FEMA, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, USAID, and the Department of Education. (The list ended with “+?????????”) She told me she works as an enforcement attorney for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. “I’ve been on administrative leave since February 10th — getting paid not to work,” she said. “So there’s some government efficiency.” She noted a couple of silver linings amid the gloom — that the preliminary injunction had helped slow the damage DOGE was doing to the agency, and that now “they’re not allowed to destroy data. DOGE was given access to our internal systems, and we were afraid they might change things and delete things.” (They changed the agency’s website to “404 — Page Not Found.”) It was her first Tesla Takedown protest, but she’s attended other protests. “It’s not just people like me who are affected by what Trump and Musk are doing,” she said. “It’s people who are just really concerned about the destruction of our government and our democracy. And it’s people of all ages, all walks of life — you never know what you’re going to see. A member of a rock band came to one in front of the CFPB. I think it was the Dropkick Murphys.”
A gray-haired man and a gray-haired woman watched the proceedings; the woman held a sign decrying Tesla. “This is a takeover of our country by unelected billionaires, in a completely corrupt way,” said the man, Stephen Loffredo. “Musk bought the presidency for Trump, and now Trump is siphoning our taxpayer money into Musk’s pockets. And they’re trying to destroy our democracy, without being overly dramatic. It’s deeply troubling, and the Democratic Party as an institution is sitting on its hands. Now, activists and others need to fight back before it’s too late.” What do you do when you’re not protesting? I asked Loffredo. Signing amicus briefs, among other ways to resist: “I’m a constitutional law professor,” he said, looking grim.
Amid loud chants of “Our neighbors are under attack! What do we do? Stand up and fight back!” I spoke to a gray-haired man in an Army jacket and rainbow striped sash, holding a tattered cardboard sign that read “TRUMP IS A TERRIBLE VICE PRESIDENT.” A former self-employed English-as-a-second-language teacher who lived in Europe for many years, the man is now “completely disabled,” he said. “I could lose everything.” He currently lives in “the back end of Yonkers” and has attended many protests around New York City. “This is my fourth Saturday
Sourse: newyorker.com
