Colma Tesla protests growing

“It was a sense that our democracy is under attack and our federal workers are under attack and Elon Musk is so much a big part of the attack,” Pacifica resident Cynthia Kaufman said. “Just wanting to draw attention to him as a particularly bad individual.” 

The protest movement began organically in February, mirroring hundreds of grassroots initiatives across the country targeting Musk and his business initiatives. Now, local progressive groups like Coastside Indivisible are using that momentum, answering a call from Tesla Takedown for a national day of action March 29. 

Created by President Trump Jan. 20, the Department of Government Efficiency is a task force created to slash federal spending and root out inefficiencies. Led by Musk, it seeks to slash federal spending. So far, it has focused on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and worked to consolidate agencies and programs it sees as redundant, with layoffs of government workers. It has claimed to have saved more than $1 billion, but has not listed details.

Its most notable feat was shuttering the U.S. Agency for International Development, however, its actions have prompted legal scrutiny and raised alarms throughout the nation.

Anger against Musk and Tesla seems to be having an impact — stock in the company has gone down since its postelection high, Bay Area Tesla drivers are plastering their cars with anti-Elon stickers and Teslas and dealerships have faced vandalism in some instances, though organizer Lorrie Epling emphasized their protests are wholly nonviolent. 

Epling hopes the Tesla protests will show Musk the dissatisfaction Americans have with his slash-and-burn approach to governmental policies in a place he’ll notice — his wallet. 

“It was a way to make him pay attention,” she said. “The symbolism of Tesla, the connection to Musk, but also it could actually have a financial impact on him as well.” 

Attending the protests gives people an hour of the week where they feel their power, Epling said, and gets them out of the headspace that there’s nothing to be done. 

“‘Nothing we do counts, there’s nothing worth doing’ — that’s how people feel,” she said. “[But] that’s how people at the top are doing this to us. That’s how they want us to feel.’” 

Taking action against Musk and, by proxy, the current Trump administration, is especially important to Kaufman as a Jewish person, she said. Kaufman cited the detention and attempted revocation of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil’s green card as a particularly concerning example of government overreach. 

“This means a lot to me this sense of, what would I have done if I was in Germany in 1933 early days,” she said. “The idea that there’s no consequences when people do illegal actions, that is the technical definition of fascism.” 

Both Kaufman and Epling encouraged those who feel frustrated to attend the Colma Tesla protests, which have been gaining traction ever since they began. 

“The time is now,” Kaufman said. “We have to do everything we can everywhere we can to stand up against what’s happening.”