Unless you are living in a cave and have not seen any news in the past couple of weeks, you have witnessed recent incidents of people vandalizing and protesting Tesla dealerships.

Tesla cars, cyber trucks, dealerships and charging stations have been set on fire, shot at and sprayed with graffiti across the country in acts of politically charged vandalism since Elon Musk was named to help the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The department has started making government cuts to wasteful spending.

But didn’t these same activists once support the idea of electric cars because of their environmental beliefs?

Now, since Musk decided to support President Donald Trump in the 2024 election and he has been placed in charge of DOGE to weed out inefficient spending practices by the federal government, they have changed their tune.

This is hypocritical. If Musk did not support Trump, do you think they would be vandalizing and destroying these electric Tesla cars and charging stations?

George Soros, a filthy rich billionaire thinker (how is that for hypocrisy), reportedly gave $7.6 million to one of five groups accused of targeting Elon Musk’s Tesla company, according to an article from The New York Post. How would he like it if conservative groups started vandalizing some of his businesses?

Allegedly, Soros has funded several other protest groups. How else would many of these protesters be able to travel around the U.S. and survive if they did not have this kind of backing?

I bet if you did a background check, many of these traveling protesters do not have regular jobs.

“Hey, hey, ho, ho, Elon Musk has got to go!” several dozen people chanted outside a showroom in Dublin, California, about 35 miles east of San Francisco. At the same time, a smaller cluster of Trump supporters waved American flags across the street, according to an Associated Press story.

Musk is a billionaire who owns Space X and builds his own rockets. He is the wealthiest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $342.9 billion as of March 16, 2025, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Tesla is just one of his businesses.

So the man knows something about budgets, making and saving money and, yes, protecting the environment with electric vehicles.

Yet, because he is supporting Trump and other Republican candidates, he is now enemy No. 1 to some activist groups. They even categorized Musk as a Nazi, which is a terrible label and just not truthful.

The Musk Foundation is a U.S.-based charitable foundation funded and directed primarily by Musk. The foundation is dedicated to promoting renewable energy, crewed space exploration, pediatrics, science and engineering education, and the “development of safe artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity,” according to his Wikipedia bio page.

Some high-ranking political leaders have spoken out against Musk and Tesla. For example, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y., was quoted as saying that Musk was “sympathetic to Nazis” and “one of the most unintelligent billionaires I have ever met.” She should look in the mirror and think about such a statement before spewing this kind of venom.

These activists say they love the environment, yet they have set fires to electric cars with their batteries and this smoke is polluting the air. More hypocritical acts by some who have no idea what they are really protesting.

These insincere climate crusaders are not practicing what they preach.

There have been a few arrests involving the torching of Tesla cars and the vandalism of dealerships. Hopefully more charges and jail time will follow.

They have made Elon Musk into a villain. They lost the election and are taking out their frustrations on him and his company.

But political violence has no place in our society. Peaceful protests are one thing, but arson, spray painting someone’s property, and keying Tesla vehicles are all crimes. These people should be arrested, charged and spend some time in jail. Maybe they will think twice before committing such inexcusable acts of violence.

Until next time.

(Kyle Lovern is a longtime journalist in the Tug Valley. He is now a retired freelance writer and columnist for the Mountain Citizen.)

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