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Topics: Business, Crime, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Politics, Technology, Tesla, US News, World News, Electric Cars, Cars
Liv Bridge
Topics: Business, Crime, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Politics, Technology, Tesla, US News, World News, Electric Cars, Cars
The president is apparently extending an arm of support around his close friend and ally by declaring Tesla vandals will face the full wrath of the law.
Donald Trump's so-called 'First Buddy,' Elon Musk, has been at the forefront of some heat recently as the Tesla chief has stormed ahead with many controversial cost-cutting measures as the head of the task force, Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
DOGE has fired, and rehired, workers across the federal government, ripped up contracts that fund humanitarian programs, threatened entire departments with termination in its slashing spree, and more recently slammed foreign aid initiatives as 'fraud.'
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In response, political activists have taken to organizing so-called 'Tesla takedown protests' and while most have been peaceful, some have escalated with fires breaking out in showrooms and at charging stations in Colorado and Massachusetts, reports the BBC.
Around 350 demonstrators stormed another electric vehicle dealership in Portland, Oregon, last week while half a dozen were arrested in New York earlier this month after another similar protest outside a Tesla showroom.
The news outlet further reports a dramatic spike in Cybertruck vandalism across the country - and some Tesla owners have vowed to get rid of their cars while others have defaced their own vehicles.
Now, Trump is lending his support to the tech mogul, having not only purchased a Tesla Model S this week, which he can't even drive, but by declaring that protesters committing violence at Tesla dealerships will be treated as domestic terrorists.
The POTUS said on Tuesday (March 11) that perpetrators will 'go through hell.'
The president appeared by Musk, who was wearing an all-black 'MAGA' baseball cap, and his shiny red new $80,000 Tesla outside the White House to condemn the protesters.
"I'm going to stop them. We catch anybody doing it, because they're harming a great American company," he said.
"I've stuck up for the NFL. I've stuck up for a lot of American companies, and other companies.
"I do favors for all of them," he continued, stating the companies get their support for providing 'so many jobs that others are unable to do.'
Trump warned: "We have a lot of cameras up. We already know who some of them are. We're going to catch them.
"Let me tell you, you do it to Tesla, and you do it to any company, we're going to catch you, and ... you're going to go through hell."
The warning comes as shares of the electric car company reached new highs that same day, closing nearly four percent higher and rebounding back dramatically from the biggest one-day plunge in almost five years from the day before, Reuters reports.
Trump hasn't historically been the biggest supporter of electric cars either, having revoked an executive order to make half of all new cars sold in the US electric by 2030 almost immediately since returning to office in January.
But Tesla hasn't been performing so well, hit by a double whammy of plummeting vehicle sales, political protesters and investor concerns about Musk's involvement in politics.
White House spokesperson Harrison Fields also said: "Ongoing and heinous acts of violence against Tesla by radical Leftist activists are nothing short of domestic terror."
However, protesters have maintained they come in peace and won't bow to 'intimidation' from the Trump administration.
A group believed to be behind the Tesla takedown protests said on the social media platform, Bluesky: "Peaceful protest on public property is not domestic terrorism. They are trying to intimidate us. We will not let them succeed."
Some legal experts have also warned charging vandals under terrorism statutes probably won't hold up in court.