The ongoing protests at Tesla dealerships — the electric vehicle company led by South African centibillionaire Elon Musk — appear to be getting under the skin of President Donald Trump's administration.
The website TeslaTakedown.com has become a hub for people seeking out ways to protest Musk's sweeping budget cuts and mass firings of federal workers as part of his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Recently, Attorney General Pam Bondi went on Fox News to threaten people who protested at Tesla dealerships with criminal prosecution. While she referenced acts of vandalism, Bondi also appeared to say the DOJ was closely watching anyone in the proximity of a Tesla dealership.
"If you're gonna touch a Tesla, go to a dealership, do anything, you better watch out, because we're coming after you," Bondi said. "And if you're funding this, we're coming after you. We're gonna know who you are."
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Bondi's threat was met with mockery on social media. On Bluesky, journalist Adrian Bonenberger wrote: "Hello DOGE? I would like to report more waste in government." University of Florida political science professor Michael McDonald sarcastically remarked that Bondi's threat was "a great advertisement for Tesla. Makes me want to go out and buy one." And Cornell University historian Larry Glickman wryly commented that the attorney general's warning was an example of the "wonderful free enterprise system at work, where the consumer is sovereign and the state stays out of the way."
"Next week: the SEC investigates finance media who downgrade Tesla stock," wrote University of Chicago assistant political science professor E.J. Fagan.
Intelligence and policy professional Eric Robinson observed that driving a Tesla under Trump's second term has become "a mark of failure."
"The most powerful weapon against Elon Musk is making Tesla ownership relentlessly, powerfully, eternally uncool," Robinson wrote.
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Some of Bondi's critics were outraged at the DOJ's heavy-handed approach to Constitutionally protected free speech and called out the administration's hypocrisy compared to the pardons of January 6 defendants. Comic Elizabeth Alice Croydon Some contrasted the Tesla protests with the January 6 insurrection, with comic Elizabeth Alice Croydon remarking that "trashing the Capitol and killing cops is cool but hold a sign at a Tesla dealership and you’re done." Progressive YouTuber Keith Edwards tweeted: "If the Capitol were a Tesla dealership, this administration would care that it was attacked,"
Writer Craig Calcaterra slammed the "blatant unconstitutionality of this fascist s---."
"Can you imagine how this plays to regular people?" Calcaterra continued. "Does the administration believe that there's a big silent majority of Americans who think that protecting Elon's Musk's s----y car company should be a top national priority?"
"Come and get me, Pam," wrote author Brian Alexander. "Because I'm going."
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Watch the video of Bondi below, or by clicking this link.
Pam Bondi: "If you're gonna touch a Tesla, go to a dealership, do anything, you better watch out, because we're coming after you."
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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) March 14, 2025 at 10:04 AM