Until recently, I had assumed that there were Tesla dealerships on the Eastern Shore even though I had never seen one. There aren’t any. Tesla Cybertrucks are still rare on the Eastern Shore. Still, you are more likely to see a Tesla sedan than a Buick or Cadillac. Were people driving to Bethesda to buy their cars?
Remember when Teslas first came on the market? Buying one was doing something to fight climate change. Hollywood stars traded in their Mercedes sports cars, and sometimes their Toyota Priuses, to be seen stepping out of a Tesla when making their entrances onto the Oscars’ red carpet.
I remember thinking about buying a Tesla, but, given recent events, I’m sure glad I didn’t. I’d prefer not to drive a car with “F*ck Elon” painted on its side.
Want to see a Cybertruck? If you can’t get into the Fox News parking lot, try a California junkyard. There, in addition to the Cybertrucks that caught fire with no assistance from an anti-Trump or anti-Musk “lunatic,” you will find Cybertrucks torched in protest to DOGE and Trump.
President Trump, confident that he knows unfairness when he sees it, expressed outrage against people venting their anger and attempting to draw attention to what they see as an authoritarian takeover of government, by vandalizing Teslas.
Said Trump, “I look forward to watching the sick terrorist thugs get 20-year jail sentences for what they are doing to Elon Musk and Tesla. Perhaps they could serve them in the prisons of El Salvador, which have become so recently famous for such lovely conditions!”
The President has directed the FBI and the Department of Justice to track down those responsible. Kash Patel and Pam Bondi are on the case.
There is irony in Trump’s anger. He pardoned his “January 6 Patriots,” who Trump described as peace-loving people venting their anger after Trump lost the 2020 election. Trump convinced them that the election had been stolen, which, in Trump’s mind, justified their violence against police officers and the Capitol. The anger of the people protesting DOGE is different, right?
President Trump is now considering compensating the “January 6 Patriots” because they were treated “so unfairly.” A concert by the now world-renowned “J6 Choir” can’t be far behind.
The Tesla vandals (Musk, Trump, Kash Patel and others call them “terrorists”), like their J6 counterparts, illegally engaged in violence. I don’t see the difference between them and Trump’s “J6 patriots.” Both groups deserve punishment for vandalism, but the President now celebrates one group while subjecting the other to a nationwide hunt, with harsh punishment promised.
Elon Musk was surprised when the vandalism against his cars started. He told Fox News: “It’s actually disadvantageous for me to be in the government, not advantageous. My companies are suffering because I’m in the government.” Musk added, “Do you think it helps sales if (Tesla) dealerships are gonna be fire-bombed? Of course not.”
Musk is, of course, right, but while I join him in condemning the violence, I am not about to pull out my violin. He has received over $38 billion in government contracts and, as head of DOGE, will receive more, which is one explanation of why he joined the Trump administration as a “volunteer.”
Musk will suffer millions of dollars in losses in the stock market value of Tesla, but he is the world’s richest human. The economic harm he will suffer is nothing compared to that of the tens of thousands of federal employees that Musk and his DOGE team members have fired.
Those of us on the Eastern Shore who have friends who worked for the federal government know that DOGE has caused more pain and suffering than the Tesla vandals would cause Musk if they torched every Tesla ever built and every Tesla dealership. There just isn’t any comparison.
I hope the FBI crackdown on violence against Teslas will be successful. Nobody wins when violence is tolerated. The Tesla vandals are not heroes. If arrested, just like the January 6 insurrectionists, they should be prosecuted for their crimes and not be pardoned by the president or compensated for being “treated very unfairly.”
J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, and, too infrequently, other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.
Mr. Dean will be on travel next week. His column will return on April 16.
Art Cecil says
Are you seriously equating January 6 with firebombing Teslas, dealerships, and otherwise destroying Tesla owners’ property? I think you probably are but doesn’t make it less looney.
John Dean says
I am. I have watched the video of the January 6 insurrection. Do you know that police were killed on January 6?
Please note that I condemn the vandalism of Teslas and Tesla dealerships as much as you do. But the January 6 rioters should not have been pardoned or called “patriots.”
Sarah Oppenheimer says
“Do you know that police were killed on January 6?”… ok who’s gonna tell him?
Wilson Dean says
It is mind boggling to see right wingers praising the J6 crowd that tried to overthrow our government now clamoring to deport the Tesla car burners to the horrific El Salvador prisons to rot. In reality, any sane and reasonable person would condemn both actions, but the distinction appears to have been lost on those who still think January 6th was just another tourist day at the Capitol.
At least Mr. Musk must feel better seeing the President of the United States out hawking his Teslas in front of the White House. Really, it’s something to see the Donald take time from his busy schedule of golfing and selling out the American people to peddle the automobiles made by his boss.
John Dean says
I share your amazement. What we have seen in 1) pardons and praise for the January 6 insurrectionists; 2) Trump doing a Tesla commercial at the White House; and 3) Trump directing the DoJ and FBI to track down the Tesla vandals and promising harsh punishment for them is bizarre. I am amazed–and sickened.
Bob Kopec says
Trump is so concerned about poor Mr. Musk’s vehicles being damaged and Trump even went so far as to call them terrorists.
Trump had no such concerns when he convened a mob that caused millions of dollars of damage to the Capital on Jan 6, where people were killed amid shouts of “Hang Mike Pence” – he called this mob patriots.
Go figure.
John Dean says
As you might have guessed, I agree completely. We live in deeply troubled times. I fear they will get worse.
Jack serio says
Mr Dean , I would think that in your own circumstances you may have had to scramble and pray for a new opportunity to earn a living, Government workers are no different . I too feel their pain of lost jobs and opportunity , we can all stand up and help our neighbors . It is a shame many honest government employees have lost their jobs because of fraud and corruption . What Mr Musk is doing is saving our country. He is not out to destroy jobs and bring heart ache, his intension
is to preserve our future so there are services and jobs. Perhaps those fighting violently against Musk have lost their illicit sources of income. I wonder what Barry Goldwater would say?
John Dean says
Thank you for your comment. I don’t know what Barry Goldwater would say. I’m glad he never became president.
I politely disagree with you that Musk is “saving our country.” Just this week, RFK, Jr., prompted by Musk, is firing researchers at the CDC, NIH, and other parts of HHS. People will die as a result of the critical research they were working on being cancelled or ended. I also believe that Trump/Musk are making it harder for veterans to get their benefits and for social security eligible people to get their benefits. That is not “saving our country.”
I also don’t think the Tesla vandals and protesters against Musk are doing so because they lost their illicit sources of income. I believe they are against the deconstruction of the federal government.
I don’t condone political violence–ever–but I look forward to Musk leaving Washington. He has done a lot of damage.
In any case, I appreciate your commenting.
Reed Fawell 3 says
“Elon Musk was surprised when the vandalism against his cars started. He told Fox News: “It’s actually disadvantageous for me to be in the government, not advantageous. My companies are suffering because I’m in the government.” Musk added, “Do you think it helps sales if (Tesla) dealerships are gonna be fire-bombed? Of course not. Musk is, of course, right, but while I join him in condemning the violence, I am not about to pull out my violin. He has received over $38 billion in government contracts and, as head of DOGE, will receive more, which is one explanation of why he joined the Trump administration as a “volunteer.””
(“But while I join him in condemning the violence, I am not …” This is an admission of obvious truth that should be an end an honest conversation instead of being used to prop to set up what in the main is a largely dishonest conversation.
So for example:
“He has received over $38 billion in government contracts.”
What is wrong with that? Absolutely nothing. In fact, that $38 billion has been repaid over and over by the stunning and world changing success of Musk founded and led companies whose achievements in scope, breath, and depth benefit the American public and the world generally beyond the wildest dreams of all concerned, and have done so with a quickness and power never before seen in American history.)
“Musk will suffer millions of dollars in losses in the stock market value of Tesla, but he is the world’s richest human. The economic harm he will suffer is nothing compared to that of the tens of thousands of federal employees that Musk and his DOGE team members have fired.”
This claim also is absolute nonsense. DOGE is on track to save the Government one trillions dollars of current Government Waste, Fraud and financial abuse, save Social security, Medicare, and Medicaid from insolvency, and replace these corrupt and bankrupt systems of government with highly efficient powers of execution and achievement on a near par with unique success of the companies he has founded. Unless of course the left wing of the American Democrat party and their thoroughly corrupted allies can prevent this public success.
“Those of us on the Eastern Shore who have friends who worked for the federal government know that DOGE has caused more pain and suffering than the Tesla vandals would cause Musk if they torched every Tesla ever built and every Tesla dealership. There just isn’t any comparison.”
This claim also is absolute nonsense. This domestic terrorism is aimed at destroying one of the worlds more valuable and important public companies, while at the same time this domestic terrorism is a clear and present danger to Western Civilization itself, replacing it with a reign of terror sponsored by the radical far left wing of the modern American Democrat Party.)
John Dean says
Forgive me for asking, but do you work for Musk or one of his companies?
Did you have TSLA stock and are you angry that it is declining?
Do you think it is okay to try to pay voters to vote for Republican candidates (as Musk did in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin)?
Just asking.
Reed Fawell 3 says
No. Why would you ask? Are you that blind and ignorant?
Deirdre LaMotte says
Trump / Musk and DOGE don’t understand that RIFing people doesnt improve efficiency or effectiveness, or improve public service it just causes chaos. Real improvements come from careful analysis of current vs desired levels of service and alternative means to provide them. Go back to grade school for management and QBA 101.
But of course we know the real reason for this total
screw-up; privation of the Federal Government .
Project 2025. Or as we call it :GOP world wide depression 2025.
Rebecca Ellison says
Agreed, privatization (of public services … Amtrak, the post office, etc.) are MAGA goals. Chaos is a goal as well as a tool … what is sought is nothing less than the proverbial ‘new world order’ (ask yourself why Russia and Israel are not subjected to the tariff chaos).
In addition to throwing off all the tariff nonsense and returning somehow to the robust economy of only a few months a ago, we have to also particularly protect our free and powerful press and our free and powerful educational and scientific standards and institutions.
And our Constitution and laws.
Tesla vandals are the absolute least of our problems. Ditto the tribulations of the recently pardoned silk road internet mega criminal.
Furthermore, underlying everything, Climate Change needs to be our PRIMARY CONCERN … nothing else we do matters if we make this place uninhabitable. (No one is going to colonize Mars and we should stop thinking about such nonsense and spend the Mars-dedicated time, money and expertise saving Earth). Duh.