On March 15, a protest against the Tesla electric vehicle dealership in north Fresno drew about 200 people. The protest was part of a similar action that occurred in several U.S. cities, with thousands participating. More protests against Tesla are expected in the near future.
The protest highlights the rejection by a significant portion of the population of the policies that Tesla owner Elon Musk is implementing from his position in President Trump’s administration.
Musk is in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which in reality only seeks to reduce the number of employees and budgets of government agencies, reducing and even eliminating their ability to meet their objectives.
The Department of Education is one of the first targets and has already lost half of its employees. Trump has expressed his intention to close that department.
Furthermore, Musk has openly expressed his sympathies for far-right political forces, both in this country and abroad.
“We want to educate the population that Musk comes from a country, South Africa, where there was a racist government for a long time and there was a very hard struggle to change it,” said local activist Gloria Hernandez, a protest participant. “And he comes here with the old thoughts of his country, thoughts of racism, of white supremacy.”
The protests against Tesla began in December 2024. Tesla car sales have declined worldwide. For example, in Australia, a 72% drop in sales was reported during February compared with the same month in 2024. In Germany, a 76% drop was reported during the same period. Thousands of Tesla owners are selling their cars, and the company’s stock has lost almost half its value, according to news reports.
Although there was limited violence during the protests in some U.S. cities, the protest in Fresno was peaceful. Nationally, many Tesla vehicle owners have reported being victims of vandalism.
“Elon Musk mocks people who depend on Social Security, which the government wants to privatize, but he doesn’t mention that his companies receive subsidies from the federal government, which is money from those of us who pay taxes,” says Hernandez.
She adds that she is outraged that Musk and the Trump administration want to eliminate Social Security. “I worked since I was 11 and have been contributing to Social Security for my retirement ever since. I don’t understand why they want to eliminate it.”
The government has already begun drastically reducing Medicaid funding, which will seriously affect access to healthcare for millions of people, including medical treatments and medicines.
Regarding the protests against Tesla, President Trump expressed solidarity with Musk and stated that such actions are “illegal,” which is, of course, false. However, the dislike for Musk is strong.
During a protest at a Tesla dealership in Brooklyn, a protester named Donna—she didn’t want her last name to be on record—expressed to the The Guardian newspaper that protesting against Tesla is “important for me because Elon Musk has carte blanche to destroy our country, destroy our democracy, destroy the institutions that millions of New Yorkers and millions of Americans rely on.
“Donald Trump has allowed him to buy his way into the government with hundreds of millions of dollars of contributions.” She is referring to the millions of dollars Musk contributed to Trump’s electoral efforts in 2024.
