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- Elon Musk, not satisfied that the White House declaring vandalism against Tesla properties to be tantamount to terrorism, now wants law enforcement to go after his wealthy political opponents.
An emboldened Elon Musk is ratcheting up the pressure on the anti-Tesla demonstrations across the country, calling for the arrest of anyone found to be funding the protests.
President Donald Trump has already declared vandalism targeting Musk’s cars, charging stations, and showrooms to be tantamount to terrorism subject to federal prosecution and stiff jail sentences.
But on Sunday, Musk—whose company is expected to report on Wednesday its worst quarterly car sales since Q3 of 2022—did not seem satisfied with leaving it there. He argued going after low-level perps is the law enforcement equivalent of Whac-A-Mole: Lock up one criminal for 20 years and another will pop up to take their place.
In his view, they are little more than pawns acting at the behest of the Tesla CEO’s wealthy Democratic opponents.
“Arresting their puppets and paid foot-soldiers won’t stop the violence,” he posted on Sunday. “It is time to arrest those funding the attacks.”
Former Wall Street Journal reporter Asra Nomani fed these suspicions this weekend when she claimed to have found evidence that at least two dozen largely tax-exempt groups, all supposedly aligned with the Democratic party, were compensating protesters for their time. Her allegations were picked up by the Trump-friendly outlets Fox News and Zero Hedge as evidence the protests are not genuine but astroturfed.
LinkedIn cofounder forced to deny Musk’s claims of involvement
This weekend, demonstrations were once again organized online and staged throughout the country as part of the Tesla Takedown movement, which aims to exact retribution for his efforts to gut government programs that millions of Americans rely on for help.
One of the figures Musk repeatedly blames for fueling the anti-Tesla violence is Reid Hoffman. “Reid will have many layers between himself and the organizations attacking me, but the probability is 100% that Reid is funding them,” Musk wrote on Sunday.
The LinkedIn cofounder once again pushed back against the allegations, denying involvement and accusing the Tesla CEO instead of bringing it upon himself.
“Probability you’d rather make sh– up about me than fix your problems? 100%,” he replied.
But the anti-Tesla demonstrators aiming to “bankrupt” Musk are not just American, nor are they attacking him simply for his involvement with slashing U.S. federal government spending.
Europeans are also participating—in isolated cases, even vandalizing Tesla property—mainly in response to his support of Europe’s far-right nationalists.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/GettyImages-2207520679-e1743435962284.jpg?resize=1200,600 https://fortune.com/2025/03/31/elon-musk-calls-for-arrest-funding-tesla-takedown-protests/Christiaan Hetzner
