Photo: Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images
On April 5, vast crowds of people took to the streets across America to oppose the policies of the Trump regime. The nationwide Hands Off protests felt like a collective decision to stop doomscrolling and start coming together against our country’s lurch toward authoritarianism. The next step is to turn the crowds, speeches, and witty signs into a powerful force with a clear and systematic plan for breaking Trump’s dark vision for our future.
While Trump possesses the formal authority of the federal government, history is full of examples in which an angry public can bring all of that crashing down by moving from passive acceptance to active opposition. At present, the path to that decisive future may seem hard to discern. But there are already networks of resistance that have shown early signs of success, and the “Tesla Takedown” movement stands at the top of that list.
By protesting Tesla dealerships across the U.S., the grassroots campaign has ripped a hole in the wealth of Trump’s most supportive oligarch: Elon Musk. In doing so, the movement has demonstrated that America’s financial and corporate elites are far more vulnerable than they would have us believe. Tesla Takedown organizers have described a powerful surge of activism that combines deep opposition to both Musk and Trump with a sense of community and even joy. “There’s this bond of being with people who share your love of democracy, decency, and the rule of law,” said retired Colby College history professor Elizabeth Leonard, who organizes Tesla Takedown protests in Waterville, Maine.
Thanks to the Tesla Takedown movement and the broad anti-Musk revulsion that activists have channeled, Musk’s political and commercial fortunes appear to be in decline. He is still the world’s wealthiest man, but he has lost his air of invincibility and increasingly looks like a stumbling buffoon. His political intervention in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race backfired spectacularly, with a state that previously voted for Trump in 2024 by a 1 percent margin electing the Democratic Supreme Court candidate by a whopping 10 percentage points. Tesla stock has dropped some 40 percent since the start of the year, erasing $135 billion in Musk’s wealth. And following Musk’s toxic interventions in U.S. politics, Trump has reportedly said that Musk will be stepping back from his public White House role.
Through its victories, the Tesla Takedown community has revealed a major vulnerability of the Trump regime. Many of the oligarchic elites who back Trump’s agenda get their wealth from the very public whose broad interests Trump is now attacking. Tesla, Amazon, Meta, and other companies depend on the American populace for their profits, even as their owners have lent their support to Trump’s unpopular right-wing agenda, which is squeezing the material wealth and rights of the American people. When activists connect these dots through compelling campaigns, they can hold Trump’s oligarchic enablers directly accountable by draining their wealth.
Tesla itself is now in a downward slide that could mark the early stages of an death spiral — or at least a significant reassessment by investors who have treated Tesla as something far bigger than simply a car company. Sales continue to decline across the U.S. and Europe, with 2025 first quarter numbers showing a 13 percent drop. Meanwhile, major Chinese electric vehicle competitor BYD reported a 60 percent increase in sales during the same period.
In response to the anti-Tesla backlash, Musk embarked on a dubious right-wing outreach strategy that will only further alienate his original climate-conscious customer base. First, he had Trump turn the White House into a Tesla dealership. Then came the public support of right-wing voices, including MAGA supporters, white supremacist Proud Boys, and militia groups. It seems “Swasticar” is no longer just a meme.
The success of the Tesla Takedown movement opens the door to the question of what comes next. Can the movement take on more of Musk’s wealth — including SpaceX? Can protesters leverage their momentum to go after a wider range of targets, including the other oligarchs who have backed Trump? Will the anti-Musk community translate its ability to capture headlines into direct pressure on the political system itself? By broadening the attack on Musk’s interests and targeting more Trump-supporting oligarchs, the Tesla Takedown movement can help bring an end to Trump’s authoritarian policies.
Beyond Boycotts
Tesla Takedown organizers are already thinking about next steps. I spoke with Tesla Takedown U.K. organizer Theodora Sutcliffe, who argued for applying the original South Africa anti-apartheid era framework of boycotts, divestment, and sanctions to Musk’s enterprises — the same framework used by Palestinians to oppose Israeli apartheid and genocide today. As Sutcliffe told me, “Elon Musk is not just an American problem. He truly is a global threat. He is supporting authoritarians globally and pushing disinformation, and he is driving climate change and climate denial.”
The BDS framework offers a useful lens for understanding both what is already happening and what should come next. The Tesla Takedown movement has already driven a growing and successful boycott of Tesla vehicles. Other prominent voices are advancing the cause of divestment. American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten recently called on 75 city and state pension fund managers to review their current holdings in Tesla stock. And New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who oversees the city’s five public pension funds, has called for a shareholder lawsuit against Tesla.
The third BDS category, government sanctions, is where the grassroots movement can truly grow and flex its power. Tesla Takedown activists can urge city council members, county supervisors, and state legislators across the U.S. to introduce and pass legislation to prohibit their governments from buying Tesla vehicles or other Tesla products and services. My organization, Freedom Forward, has published a draft resolution that activists can use for these efforts. Such an approach would drive nationwide headlines and shut down numerous potential markets for Musk and his company.
In recent months and years, Tesla had found multiple customers in local and state governments. At the start of 2024, California’s Department of Transportation bought hundreds of Teslas. Law enforcement agencies in Las Vegas, and smaller municipalities in California and Florida have all added Teslas to their vehicle fleets. At the same time, the City of Baltimore quietly stepped back from buying Tesla vehicles last year. And the Canadian government arguably imposed its own sanctions on Tesla this March when it froze rebate payments to the company. Pushing governments to impose sanctions can bring an added level of intensity to the movement.
Focusing on SpaceX
Of course, Musk’s wealth isn’t just anchored in Tesla. SpaceX has already received federal government contracts worth $20 billion since 2008 . That number is likely to go up significantly, as Musk cashes in on his close relationship with Trump. “Any government contracts with Elon Musk’s companies should be terminated,” according to scholar Joan Donovan, a co-author of the book “Meme Wars” and an early organizer of Tesla Takedown protests in Boston. “The self-dealing that is going on inside this administration is awful to watch.”
Even though SpaceX is thought of primarily as a federal contractor for NASA and the U.S. military, it also has state and local government customers via its Starlink internet service. North Carolina, South Carolina, and counties in Wisconsin and West Virginia have purchased Starlink services and equipment to expand Internet access.
Tesla Takedown demonstrators can target SpaceX by calling on lawmakers to halt government purchases of Starlink services. It would only take 41 U.S. senators to block all federal funding for SpaceX. With 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats, and two independents in the Senate, such a push is numerically possible. And by launching such a campaign, anti-Musk activists would give listless Democrats in Congress the kick in the pants they desperately need.
All of Trump’s Oligarchs
Of course, Musk is not the only billionaire or corporate elite seeking to curry favor with Trump. In addition to Musk, Trump’s inauguration stage also featured tech moguls Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Sundar Pichai. Boycotts and local government sanctions can be launched against these consumer-facing companies and their leaders. Zuckerberg, for example, has bet Meta’s future on mass corporate and public adoption of new AI eyewear. A nationwide movement to push school boards to ban such products from classrooms would be one example of a potentially effective campaign that could scare Zuckerberg from continuing his embrace of Trump.
Thanks to its success, the Tesla Takedown movement has demonstrated its ability to fundamentally challenge the interests of one of the Trump regime’s top enablers. What comes next is an important question for both the movement’s organizers and the broader Hands Off community to consider. If the movement can expand to directly challenge more of the financial elites who are backing Trump’s policies, it could grow into offering an actionable critique of American oligarchy that may attract even greater levels of support and involvement from the vast numbers of anti-Trump protesters who recently took to the streets.
The hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Hands Off protesters drew from a wide range of liberal and progressive persuasions and were animated by a range of important issues. The next step for protesters and the many organizations that anchor the resistance is to embark upon a clear and overarching strategy for disrupting the Trump regime. The combination of ineffective leadership by elected officials like Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and Sen. Chuck Schumer, together with the sheer number of fires that the Trump administration is setting, have left many different communities reacting in different ways and with different strategies.
As the voices of resistance continue to coalesce, the Tesla Takedown movement has an opportunity to inspire the broader community with a comprehensive vision for putting the brakes on this regime. America is desperate for a plan, and by targeting Trump’s wealthy enablers on multiple fronts, the Tesla Takedown community can show us how to break the oligarchy that is destroying our democracy.
