Attacks on Tesla Dealerships Spike     03/19 06:13

   

   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. In Canada, Tesla was removed from an international 
auto show over safety concerns.

   There has been a clear uptick in Tesla attacks 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 Republican 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.

   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 "left-wing organizations in 
America, funded by left-wing 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 Trump's 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.

   "It'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."