Washington, DC — Donald Trump‘s warning came first. “Domestic terrorism,” he called it. A post on Truth Social carried the full force of his message: “We will find you. And that includes the funders. Up to 20 years in prison!!!”
Then came the twist. On Friday, Trump floated the idea of deporting convicted Tesla vandals to El Salvador, where the US has already sent hundreds of gang members. “Which has become so recently famous for such lovely conditions!” he quipped, referencing its notorious prisons.
Why was the US President saying this? Because attacks on Tesla are not random anymore. They appear relentless and are spreading across US states.
Cybertrucks and Tesla cars have been set ablaze in several states. Bullets and Molotov cocktails have shattered Tesla showrooms.
Flames licking the edges of the night, leaving the acrid stench of burnt metal and plastic hanging in the air.
The arsonists have acted with precision — with Tesla charging stations torched, showroom windows shattered, Teslas in driveways and parking lots smashed beyond recognition.
No injuries, not yet. But the message is unmistakable: Tesla, co-founded and led by the world’s richest man Elon Musk, is a battlefield now.
The violence has escalated since Trump returned to the White House and installed Musk as head of the newly minted Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The billionaire, often acclaimed as an eccentric innovator, is now Trump’s right-hand man, dismantling bureaucracy with the same zeal he once brought to rocket launches and self-driving cars. But in the process, he has become the embodiment of a system many Americans have come to despise.
Tesla showrooms, sleek temples of the electric revolution, have turned into flashpoints. Some protests stay peaceful — chants, banners, calls for boycotts. Others unleash chaos.
‘Tesla is an easy target’
In Portland, a man allegedly hurled Molotov cocktails into a Tesla store, then returned days later to spray it with bullets. In the Seattle suburb of Tigard, gunfire shattered dealership windows twice in one week.
Seattle has taken some of the worst blows. Four Cybertrucks, reduced to skeletal frames, burned in a Tesla lot. Just last Friday, a witness saw a man dousing a Model S with gasoline before setting it alight.
Las Vegas bore its own scars. The word “RESIST” scrawled in red across the doors of a Tesla service centre, its vehicles already reduced to twisted wreckage by firebombs. The attacker fired rounds into the smouldering husks before disappearing into the night.
Authorities are scrambling. Federal agents in South Carolina arrested a man last week for setting fire to Tesla charging stations near Charleston.
“Tesla is an easy target,” Randy Blazak, a sociologist who studies political violence told AP. “They’re rolling down our streets. They have dealerships in our neighbourhoods.”
From darling to divisive
Tesla’s transformation from Silicon Valley‘s darling to America’s most polarising brand fuels the rage.
Under Obama, the company thrived on government support: a $465 million federal loan helped keep it afloat. Now, under Trump, Tesla has become a poster child for deregulation.
Musk has done little to bridge the divide. He bought Twitter — now X— promising to restore free speech, a move hailed by conservatives and loathed by liberals. He became Trump’s biggest financial backer, pouring an estimated $250 million into the campaign.
He recently stood alongside Trump in front of the White House, their backdrop a gleaming Tesla Model S as the president extolled its $80,000 price tag.
The backlash is more than symbolic — it‘s financial. Used Cybertruck prices have plunged nearly 8 percent since Trump’s return.
Others have resorted to irony, slapping stickers on their vehicles: “I bought this before Elon went off the rails.” Another reads: “I just wanted an electric car. Don’t judge me.”
Tesla’s stock has taken a hit this year, dropping 41.4 percent so far, with sales slipping in Europe, China, and the US. Since peaking at $1.5 trillion on December 17, its market cap has halved, now sitting at $696 billion by mid-March.
‘Insane and deeply wrong’
Musk, never one to back down, fired back on X. He posted a video of the Las Vegas attack, calling it “insane and deeply wrong. Tesla just makes electric cars and has done nothing to deserve these evil attacks.”
On Senator Ted Cruz’s podcast, he went further. “Some of this is absolutely organised and paid for by left-wing groups,” he said. “We know it. We’re looking into it.”
Trump administration isn’t sitting idle. Attorney General Pam Bondi has launched an investigation into the attacks, promising swift justice for perpetrators and financiers alike.
“If you touch a Tesla, if you target a dealership — you better watch out because we’re coming for you,” she declared on Fox Business.
Musk said on X that Tesla has increased security and activated Sentry Mode on all vehicles at stores. The safety feature allows enabled vehicles’ cameras and sensors to remain powered on and ready to record suspicious activity.
From showroom to battleground — Tesla is now the new fault line of America‘s culture war.
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