On the frontlines of the Tesla Takedown, all is not what it seems

On a balmy spring Saturday afternoon outside Tesla's Arlington, Virginia, showroom, a chorus of car horns and chanting filled the air.
A throng of around 250 people dressed in shorts and T-shirts lined the busy intersection waving hand-painted cardboard signs saying 'Muzzle musk, 'neuter Elon' and 'hands off our democracy'.
The mood was jubilant as the ageing crowd swayed back and forth to the tones of Stevie Wonder's Superstition blaring from a speaker.
One woman marched past with a makeshift plastic drum which she beat with a broken stick, shouting: 'We are not a bro-narchy, we are a democracy.'
It's a far cry from the scenes of destruction seen in Las Vegas, Nevada, last month, where a man reportedly hurled a molotov cocktail and opened fire at a fleet of Teslas that were left smouldering on the asphalt outside one of the company's service centres.
In Oregon, authorities say a man threw several explosives at a Tesla store in Salem before returning another day to shoot out the shop's windows. Meanwhile, a 70-year-old man from Idaho was arrested for allegedly driving his car into a Trump supporter outside one of the electric vehicle firm's dealerships.
The Trump administration has pledged to crack down on those targeting Tesla vehicles, with the president threatening to deport the 'domestic terrorists' causing mayhem.
Yet in the leafy, tree-lined neighbourhood of Glebe in Arlington, those on the front lines of the resistance against Elon Musk are mostly grey-haired pensioners wearing floppy sun hats to protect from the afternoon sun's rays.
'It's a false narrative,' said Lawrence MacDonald, 70, a coordinator for Third Act Virginia – an environmental group helping to organise the protests.
He claimed demonstrators were far from a professional outfit pushing a brand of aggressive domestic terrorism, and instead just ordinary folks.
'Every single one of these signs is handmade,' said the rugged, bearded climate activist, who has helped to arrange seven protests against the car company and Mr Musk.
'What we're seeing is masses of ordinary people who have not previously been political, turning out joyfully and peacefully to demand protection of American institutions.'
Protesters took to the street outside more than 200 Tesla sites across the US and Europe on March 29 as part of a 'global day of action'.
The day of action was an attempt to dent the fortune of the world's richest man.
Mr Musk's personal fortune has dropped by more than $100 billion as Tesla's stock has halved in value since December, amid a wave of protests and calls to boycott the electric vehicle company.
According to the group's website, the protests are designed to target Mr Musk for 'destroying our democracy' and orchestrating an 'illegal coup' in his mission to cut federal spending as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge).
On what was dubbed by some as 'Tesla takedown day', another protest – this time outside of a Tesla showroom in Seattle – saw dozens of woolly hat-wearing women line-dancing to the Electric Slide (the lyrics had been tweaked 'unelected slide') while security guards monitored them from the building's roof.
Meanwhile, a 'Tesla takedown dance party' in the affluent neighbourhood of Georgetown in Washington DC drew a crowd of more than 100 people who grooved to Staying Alive by the Bee Gees, adorned in golden tinsel, sporting sailors' hats and wielding anti-Musk signs, many of which called the X owner a Nazi.
Despite the general mood of positivity, the demonstrators in Arlington were met with a mixed reception from passers by.
At one point, a fire engine drove by and flicked on its sirens in solidarity, prompting coos of approval from the amiable protesters. Shortly afterwards, a pick-up truck driver swore as he tore past, a red Maga flag streaming from his window.
Porter McGan, 64, a military veteran in a green high-vis vest, armed with a black loudspeaker which he used to marshal the crowds, said he was concerned about how the administration's testing of the US constitution would impact on the lives of his five children.
'I felt desperate to do something because I feel like their birthright has been robbed from them,' he said.
Asked why protesters were targeting Tesla rather than the administration itself, he said that 'if congress and the courts aren't able to hold [Mr Musk] accountable… trying to affect the reputation of his business is perfectly legitimate'.
The growing wave of protests has clearly got under the skin of Mr Musk, who sounded almost tearful when addressing the impact of his government work on his car company in a recent Fox interview.
Allison Porter, 65, and her husband, Michael Zucker, 66, said she decided to head down to the Arlington demonstration – her first anti-Tesla protest – after she saw the movement was cutting through.
'It made me think, we should get out here too,' she said with a grin on her face.
Asked if she condoned the acts of vandalism against the car company, she said it didn't apply to those attending that particular demonstration.
'You've got a bunch of grey-haired federal workers here,' she said, gesturing to her fellow protesters.
Despite the generally cordial atmosphere, the message of non-aggression was not heeded by all in attendance, with several liberal protesters mobbing a Trump-supporter in a Maga hat who launched a lone counter-protest in support of Mr Musk.
Debbie, 53, arrived carrying a 'we love Elon' sign and a box of doughnuts for Tesla staff, and said she had decided to protest because she was 'tired of the false narrative' being spread about the president and his adviser.
'I don't understand, it's a great American company and these people are trying to destroy it,' said the healthcare worker.
'People have been calling him a Nazi,' she added. 'The same rhetoric led to Trump's assassination attempt.'
Pointing out the irony of progressives targeting an electric vehicle company, she said: 'They're probably torching Democrats' cars.'
Thomas, 55, who arrived waving a Mexican flag in support of America's beleaguered southern neighbour, admitted he has shares in Tesla and is 'watching my 401(k) go down' as the protest movement gathers momentum.
'I'm taking the hit now, but what's more important?' he said.
Located a few miles from Washington DC, over a tenth of Arlington County's 234,000 residents are federal workers, with many affected by recent government job cuts.
Kathy Conrad, 66, a retired civil servant who was at her third anti-Tesla protest alongside her husband, said it was 'heartbreaking to see the way workers are being treated'.
Asked how she was pushing back, she said: 'Now, my hobby is fighting the Maga world.'
Ginge, 79, said she has been campaigning for civil liberties since the 1960s and now has 'nothing else to do but save democracy for my grandsons'.
For all her years of demonstrating, the retired defence contractor said she believes the US is currently facing the 'greatest danger I have ever seen'.
'I hated George Bush, but I'd love to have him back right now,' said her friend, Bob, a federal retiree and military veteran, who said he would be 'rolling in his grave' if he didn't do something to support the rights of his children.
Asked if she is wary of recrimination for taking part in protests against the current administration, Ginge said: 'I see these things happen, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stay home and watch television.'
As the anti-Tesla movement continues to gather momentum, the Trump administration has vowed to crackdown on violent demonstrators. But one group with plenty of time on their hands who they may have overlooked are disgruntled pensioners.

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