Tesla Takedown protesters not going home as yet, calls Elon Musk's DOGE exit: Billionaire brats having a ...

Protests targeting Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk persist despite his recent exit from leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and a public feud with President Donald Trump over Trump’s sweeping tax and domestic policy legislation, dubbed the “The One Big, Beautiful Bill,” according to a report by CNN. Musk, who donated $288 million to Trump’s 2024 campaign, labeled the bill a “disgusting abomination” shortly after stepping down from DOGE, his federal cost-cutting initiative. The dispute escalated The Tesla Takedown movement shows no signs of slowing, despite Musk’s DOGE exit, his clash with Trump, and Tesla’s declining sales and stock value. After Musk’s departure, the movement’s Bluesky account called for protests on June 28, Elon Musk’s birthday, to “recommit to the fight.”

What is Tesla Takedown movement

The Tesla Takedown movement urges people to “sell your Teslas, dump your stock and join the picket lines” to “help save lives and protect our democracy,” per its website. Tesla’s sales dropped 13% in the first quarter of 2025, the largest decline in its history, while its stock (TSLA) fell about 14% this week, down nearly 47% from its December 18 peak of $488.54.

The Tesla Takedown movement, which began in mid-February during Musk’s DOGE tenure, organized 60 demonstrations outside Tesla showrooms on Saturday (May 7) in cities including Delray Beach, Florida; Louisville, Kentucky; and Decatur, Georgia. In Washington, DC’s Georgetown neighborhood, about 30 protesters gathered at 11:30 a.m. ET outside a Tesla showroom despite rainy weather, a smaller turnout than the 200 who protested the previous week in Rockville, Maryland. Local co-organizers Melissa Knutson and Sara Steffens attributed the lower attendance to weather and competing Pride Month events.“This is not over because (Musk) decided to go home with his tail between his legs,” Knutson told CNN, emphasizing the movement’s resolve. “We are tired of the billionaire takeover and we are not letting up,” Knutson added.

Elon Musk on Tesla Takedown protests

Elon Musk has said that Tesla Takedown movement is funded by dark money groups tied to political operatives. In a remote interview last month with Bloomberg's Qatar Economic Forum, Musk decried violent protests and people burning him in effigy and Tesla cars, saying many of them deserve to be imprisoned. "It's not fine to resort to violence," he said, calling it "evil" to damage someone's car or threaten him personally.