I was on the ground covering the TeslaTakedown protest in Chicago. Later this week, we will release footage from 13 other cities. This video focuses on Chicago. In fact, you’ll see I got into it with protestors after a group was harassing Chicago PD for about 15 minutes.
This movement was primarily catalyzed by shareholders’ activism. Elon Musk has been neglecting his role as the CEO of Tesla, a publicly traded company, and activist investors will target the public companies where they feel the management is not operating in the best interests of its shareholders. Elon Musk has been primarily focused on his role within DOGE, which has created headwinds for Tesla. Shareholder activists took the perception in civil society, weaponized it, and effectively created an emergency for Tesla management. Now, Tesla CEO Elon Musk is looking to deemphasize his role in DOGE as his companies face the turmoil created by his political activities.
You’ll see signs calling him a fascist, demanding his deportation, and criticizing his government involvement and wealth.
These protests culminated in weeks of targeting Tesla dealerships around the country. Individuals and small groups defaced Tesla cars, lit them on fire, threw paint on the dealerships, held small protests on the lots, and directly targeted Tesla charging stations and car owners.
I’ll provide more analysis this week but this is just a taste and you may find some of the drama interesting.
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