Donald Trump Backs His Co-President; Says Attacks On Tesla Dealerships Will Be Treated As ‘Terrorism’
from the dumpster-where-the-top-doesn't-open-when-it's-on-fire dept
The people have spoken. And by “people,” I mean “Elon Musk.” Trump is now buying into the batshit crazy that is the current Musk/Cybertruck discourse. This, of course, leaves the nominal VP plenty of time to get into long personal arguments with critics on Twitter. But it leaves the head DOGE free to bend Trump’s ear about the apparent unfairness of purchasers of Musk’s Pontiac Aztec 2.0 being treated like the white supremacist sympathizers a whole lot of them actually are.
Extremely recently, we covered the ridiculousness that is a Cybertruck owners’ group asking their Congressional reps to treat verbal and physical assaults (of them and/or their “trucks”) as “hate crimes” with enhanced sentences for those who dare to trifle with the Sheet Metal Squad.
It’s only been a couple of days into this news cycle and Trump has already responded with an equally stupid “solution” to the apparent “Americans hate Cybertrucks/Cybertruck owners” crisis. And it’s even better than any satirist could have expected.
First, Trump purchased himself a Tesla (but NOT a Cybertruck) and insisted on paying “full price” as a show of support for the beleaguered billionaire and his hated flagship product, which generally resembles a game asset that won’t load properly.
After posing proudly by his new red Model S (which Trump almost certainly did not pay “full price” for), Trump went to work making the government stupid and his own legacy even stupider. Why bother with “hate crimes” when you can push all the buttons on the national security dashboard at once? Here’s Jeff Mason and Abhirup Roy reporting for Reuters:
Violence against Tesla dealerships will be labeled domestic terrorism and perpetrators will “go through hell,” U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday in a show of support for the electric carmaker’s chief, his ally Elon Musk.
And there it is: extra protections for a single American business. I guess the hundreds of thousands of other American businesses can suck shit when their dealerships, office buildings, showrooms, retail outlets etc. are vandalized, torched, or otherwise damaged by people unhappy with their management, services, or products. Only attackers of this one company will be treated as domestic terrorists, even as the hundreds of literal domestic terrorists who raided the Capitol building for the sole purpose of preventing a democratic election from happening now roam free, thanks to Trump’s blanket pardon.
Trump’s transparent protectionism was, of course, praised by other administration officials.
White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said “ongoing and heinous acts of violence against Tesla by radical Leftist activists are nothing short of domestic terror.”
According to Reuters, Tesla share prices rose 4% on the news that the Trump administration would be treating Tesla better than any other carmaker. Of course, you’d generally expect better than a 4% jump when a company is granted “most favored nation” status, but no other company is currently run by one of the most hated people in the US, much less the US government. So, you get what you get.
Not that we should have to ask the facts to back up this assertion that Tesla is being targeted by “heinous acts of violence.” Anyone rational would know this simply isn’t true. While there have been a few instances of vandalism, most of the actions being taken against Tesla take the form of peaceful protests — peaceful protests that, by the way, result in an inordinate show of force by local law enforcement.
The party of “facts don’t care about your feelings” is still developing deep bruises from protected First Amendment activity. GOOD. Keep it up. If nothing else, we can ensure the war on stupid will be at least as bothersome as attempting to thrust and parry each daily attack from the Trump Administration’s War on Everything.
Filed Under: cybertruck, doge, domestic terrorism, donald trump, elon musk, hate crimes, terrorism
Companies: tesla
Comments on “Donald Trump Backs His Co-President; Says Attacks On Tesla Dealerships Will Be Treated As ‘Terrorism’”
Patriotism, fixed that for you
That swazticars are ugly anyway, fuck ’em.
All of this pageantry from Trump is proof that protesting Tesla (and non-violently mocking Tesla owners) is working. Elon’s wealth depends on Tesla not being a toxic brand, so we’re all better off if people keep toxifying the Tesla brand and making him less wealthy.
Add that this is against a background of the possibility of 50% tariffs against Canadian steel, that would likely decimate what is left of the the Detroit(/southern Ontario) auto industry, with uncertainty if not direct costs….
Nope, not at all, it applies to all companies lead by a rich white nazi that destroying every single principle of this country for the sake of efficiency, race purity and the preservation of < 1% of the humanity.
So yes, actually that’s a single company, but all other companies are welcome (as long as they don’t make good products).
Re:
Follow up EO extending it to Trump’s properties coming down the pipe?
That darn Elmo...
Foreign sales
arewere nearly one-half of Tesla sales. Curious, if Tesla can make it pissing away one-half of its revenue?Is the $TSLA board finally figuring out Elmo is the Titanic and they are the band?
Re:
Tesla’s valuation has never been an accurate reflection of its revenue (even plunging as it has these past weeks it’s still ridiculously overvalued).
But the massive decline in revenue is a sign that the thing Tesla’s value is based on — Musk’s reputation — is in big, big trouble.
Re: Re:
Still got a 3-digit P/E despite its flagship being one of the objectively worst vehicles of the 21st century.
Re:
At this point, anyone on Tesla’s board probably sold their situational awareness off for a nickel. After all being aware of… anything is a grave their to their existence.
Favouritism: it’s what’s for dinner!
Re:
Its what plants crave!
That darn Trump
Still waiting on the FT opinion piece advocating destroying the supply chain as a sold strategy to revive US auto manufacturing.
…any day now
No amount of cops will change the fact that Elton and Trump are petty assholes and are en route to be universally hated. It won’t change the perception (and possibly fact) that they US is being turned into a puppet of Putin.
Thing is, when you are a puppet you’ll inevitably have an entire forearm stuck in your arse at some point.
There can be no violence against tesla dealerships since tesla dealerships are not living
I can’t wait for them to try to prosecute someone for this. Yeah, what some of the protestors do isn’t good, but it’s a far cry from terrorism.
Trump said...
“He suggested that promoting electric vehicles “was the idea of the Radical Left Fascists, Marxists, & Communists” and that “Within 3 years, all of these cars will be made in China.”’
So, Trump has now declared himself a Fascist, Marxist, Communist. Good to know.
last year, everyone would be SURE that this article was a techdirt parody of the onion.
What is terrorism?
So, an attack on a vehicle is terrorism, but an attack on the US capital is not? Hmmm… Not sure what I’m missing here.
Re:
You’re missing the singular core tenet of fascism: “For my friends, everything; for my enemies, the law.” The hypocrisy, the corruption, the cruelty—all of it is the point.
For all the fun things the nations Doent do for itself
Capitalism takes advantage of everyone and everything. How far can you Push that idea?
WHO pays for the Salvage sent to other nations as Garbage, that THEY end up recycling. For all the Digging and Imported goods, the metals, the silicone and Tons of Chemicals that Could be recycled and USED HERE..
Its similar to China grabbing every Car/truck thats in salvage in the USA for abit more money. Take it home and reprocess/recycle it TO SELL IT BACK to us.
Which bring up the topic, WHO has the most expensive Executives and the MOST top paid?
A lot of hate… maybe. Can’t call it a crime though. More like just desserts.
I’m confused. It loads just fine on my Nintendo 64
i dunno, looks like Chicago just increased the value of the target for any actual terrorism.
Re:
Not really. If anything, the line of cops around the Tesla dealership probably made the place seem less appealing to anyone thinking of buying a Tesla that day.
Re: Re: 'Make sure to buy the extended warranty, you'll need it!'
‘People hate these cars so much that a dealership for them requires police protection? You know what, I think I’ll look for a different electric car to get around in, one that isn’t likely to get keyed or covered in graffiti inside a month.’
'I hate Elon... and I hate Trump... now I can hate both with one car? Awesome!'
If the goal was to make people hate Tesla less I’m thinking that one of if not the most hated people in the US both within the country and outside of it tying himself so closely to the company is probably not going to work out how he wants it to…
How to Have yoir cake..
And eat it too..
Given that the definition of Terrorism basically boils down to any act that could harm people or property done for a political reason, vandalizing Tesla’s would fit in that definition…
So would Jan 6
But Donnie was good with that.
Good to see crappy cars and ignorant twats getting more protections than kids going to school to learn.
In for a lamb... 🐑
If you’re in for a graffito, you’re in for a bomb.
So those who decide to send a message may choose now to assure that it will absolutely be noticed.
This is, in fact, why we have a stratified punitive system; murderous outlaws often began by stealing food or offending a yeoman.
Once your sentence was hanging (or burning, or worse), even a lost child spying you in the wilds was a liability.
A great man once said
Teslas are for “Fascists, Marxists, & Communists”.
-Donald Trump
Re:
He’s one of the three, so that explains why it was inevitable he would buy one.
Re: "fascists, marxists and communists"
I’ll dig up the quote from Yuri Orlov in _Lord of War about the AK-47:
Of all the weapons in the vast Soviet arsenal nothing was more profitable than Avtomat Kalashnikova model of 1947, more commonly known as the AK-47, or Kalashnikov. It’s the world’s most popular assault rifle, a weapon all fighters love. An elegantly simple nine pound amalgamation of forged steel and plywood, it doesn’t break, jam, or overheat. It will shoot whether it’s covered in mud or filled with sand. It’s so easy even a child can use it, and they do. The Soviets put the gun on a coin, Mozambique put it on their flag. Since the end of the Cold War, the Kalashnikov has become the Russian people’s greatest export. After that comes vodka, caviar, and suicidal novelists. One thing is for sure; no one was lining up to buy their cars.
And full disclosure, I’ve never found the soviet coin featuring the Kalashnikov, so that hasn’t been fact-checked.
If a late stage c̵o̵m̵m̵u̵n̵i̵s̵t̵ ̵ ̵s̵o̵c̵i̵a̵l̵i̵s̵t̵ ̵ ̵m̵a̵r̵x̵i̵s̵t̵ community-focused society (that hadn’t deteriorated to autocracy, oligarchy or monarchy, as both the first and second worlds have) would probably have one or two perpetually-in-development models of car for each size and purpose. And they’d go from sluggish and clunky to serviceable and rugged to pretty, fast, nearly-indestructible and self-driving.
And they’d probably be rare while the nation has really great rail, and delivery services for anything larger than a small briefcase. Our bicycles and other human-powered or human-hybrid modes of transit would also be prioritized over cars
…all this depending on if roads or rails are easier to maintain (The rails, probably)
All this is blue sky, because we’ve never tried any system that doesn’t get subverted for corruption, and the small successful examples (Black Panthers, Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, etc.) have a tendency to catch the attention and ire of larger states who actively sabotage them. We haven’t figured out how to stop that part either. (There are active efforts by Microsoft and Google to crush the Linux and FOSS communities.)