By Michael Liedtke
San Francisco (AP) – The Protestant crowd against the purge of the US government of the billionaire Elon Musk under President Donald Trump began to amass the Tesla dealers through the United States on Saturday in the last attempt to work the fortune of the richest man in the world.
The demonstrators try to degenerate a movement targeting the dealers and vehicles of Tesla in opposition to the role of Musk as head of the newly created department of government efficiency, or DOGE, where he had access to sensitive data and closed entire agencies while he is trying to reduce government spending. Most of the estimated fortune of 340 billion dollars of musk consists of the stock which he holds in the company of electric vehicles which he continues to run while working alongside Trump.
Previous demonstrations have been somewhat sporadic. On Saturday attempt to surround the 277 of the exhibition halls and service centers of the automaker in the United States on Saturday in the hope of deepening a recent drop in business sales.
At the beginning of the afternoon, crowds ranging from a few tens to hundreds of demonstrators had flocked to Tesla in the locations of New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, Minnesota and the original state of the car manufacturer. Photos published on social media accounts have shown that demonstrators brandishing signs such as “Honk If you Dete Elon” and “Fight the Billionaire Broligarchy”.
The Tesla Takedown movement also hoped to join the demonstrators at more than 230 Tesla locations in other parts of the world. Although participations in Europe were not as important as the crowd in the United States, anti-MUSC feeling was similar.
About two dozen demonstrators kept musc -castigated panels outside a Tesla dealership in London while cars and trucks passed horns to support.
One of the signs displayed during the London demonstration showed a musk photo next to an image of Adolf Hitler making the Nazi salute – a gesture that Musk was accused of resuming shortly after the inauguration of Trump on January 20. A person in a Tyrannosaurus Rex costume held another sign with a photo of the musk arm gesture who said: “You thought the Nazis were turned off. Do not buy a swasticar.”
“We just want to be strong, make noise, make people aware of the problems we face,” said Cam Whitten, an American who came to the London demonstration.
Tesla Takedown was organized by a group of supporters who included disillusioned owners of the car manufacturer, celebrities such as actor John Cusack, and at least a Democratic Party legislator, representative Jasmine Crockett from Dallas.
“I will continue to shout in the corridors of the congress. I just need you all to make sure that you all continue to shout in the streets,” said Crockett during a TAKEDOWN Tesla Tesla Tesla call held this month.
Some people opposed to Musk have exceeded the demonstrations and set fire to the vehicles of the automaker and have committed other acts of vandalism that the American prosecutor Pam Bondi has decried as domestic terrorism. Musk said he was stunned by attacks at a company meeting on March 20 and said the vandals should “stop the psycho acting”.
Crockett and other supporters of Tesla Takedown stressed the importance for Saturday protests to remain peaceful.
But the police were investigating a fire that destroyed seven Tesla vehicles in northwestern Germany early Saturday morning. It was not immediately clear if the fire, which was extinguished by the firefighters, was linked to the Tesla demonstrations at the withdrawal.
An increasing number of consumers who bought Tesla vehicles before Musk took control of DOGE, sought to sell or exchange their cars while others slapped on stickers for bumpers seeking to distance themselves from the billionaire’s efforts to cut or close government agencies.
But Musk did not seem concerned about an extended collapse of the sales of new Tesla cars in its address on March 20 to employees. He reassured the workers that the company’s Y model, which is refreshing, would again remain “the best -selling car on Earth this year”. He also predicted that Tesla would have sold more than 10 million cars worldwide by next year, compared to around 7 million cars now.
“There are times when there are difficult times, when there is stormy time, but what I am here to tell you is that the future is incredibly brilliant and exciting,” said Musk.
After Trump was elected last November, investors initially saw the Musk alliance with the president as a positive development for Tesla and its longtime efforts to launch a network of autonomous cars.
This optimism has contributed to increasing Tesla’s shares by 70% during the period between the November 5 elections of Trump and its inauguration of January 20, creating an additional $ 560 billion in shareholders. But practically all these gains were evaporated in the midst of investors’ concerns concerning the Tesla reaction, late sales in the United States, Europe and China, and spending time supervising Doge.
“It continues to be a moment of truth for Musk to sail in this moment of brand tornado crisis and put itself on the other side of this dark chapter for Tesla,” said Dan Ives, Wedbush Securities analyst, leading to Saturday demonstrations.
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The journalists of the Associated Press Mustakim Hasnath contributed from London and Stefanie Dazio contributed from Germany.
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers