Chicagoans Ditch Their Teslas To Protest Elon Musk: ‘Nobody Wants To Buy Them’ – Block Club Chicago

Block Club Chicago
Your Neighborhood News Site CHICAGO — Skylar Damiano went from owning a Tesla to spitting on them. The Humboldt Park resident would take his 2022 Tesla Model Y on roadtrips from Detroit to Dollywood — but he finally had enough of Elon Musk by President Donald Trump’s Inauguration Day, when the Tesla CEO made what appeared to be a Nazi salute.Damiano promptly traded in his Tesla, the first car he owned, for another electric vehicle at a “huge loss,” he said. That suburban dealership told Damiano nine people came in trying to offload Teslas in just two weeks, he said.“Teslas used to be cool,” said Damiano, who long wanted an electric vehicle but slapped an “Elon Musk F—ing Sucks” bumper sticker on the car after Musk transformed Twitter into a conservative social media platform. “He’s done a lot of damage to what EVs could have been. My friends were embarrassed to be seen near my car. The least I could do was get rid of it before it becomes an actual hazard for me with vandalism or harassment.”Growing rage against Musk — the world’s richest man, who is now leading a massive push for funding and job cuts to federal agencies despite holding no elected office — has turned Tesla into a target of Trump resistance.An emerging “TeslaTakedown” movement sparked protests at more than 50 Tesla dealerships nationwide Saturday, including in Chicago, where a crowd moving past the Gold Coast showroom, 901 N. Rush St., swelled to about 500 people. Some held signs reading “Make mine a Tesla Model NEIN!,” “Ugly a– Nazi car” and “Nobody voted for Elon Musk,” while belting out chants such as, “Oligarchs out, democracy in.”About 30 police officers guarded the open Tesla showroom during the protest, but no arrests were made. The show of force by CPD was widely mocked on social media. “To ensure the safety of all those living, working and visiting the area, as well as those participating in First Amendment Activity, the Chicago Police Department had additional personnel in this area for a planned demonstration,” a police spokesperson said.Showroom managers declined to comment.Most of the demonstrations have been peaceful. But there were reports of Tesla charging stations being torched near Boston and shots fired at a Tesla dealership near Portland. Protesters in New York City were arrested for shutting down a Tesla dealership.Tesla drivers in Chicago have reported their vehicles being vandalized, while other drivers have taken to local Facebook groups to say they’ve been booed on the road. One man posted a note left on his Tesla reading, “Your car makes you look like a Nazi supporter.”Anthony Stefani, a Cybertruck driver from suburban Crystal Lake, said he’s been flipped off whenever he drives into the city.“It happened three times today already,” Stefani told Block Club on Monday. “I bought it for the vehicle, not Elon. [It] cost me less than 10 cents to fill up the Cybertruck. … You get people that love it or hate it. Just seems like a lot of hate lately.”Tesla stock has plunged by nearly half in three months, more than erasing the company’s Trump election bump amid growing public outrage, tariffs that threaten automotive supply chains, slowing electric vehicle sales and fears from investors that Musk’s political dealings are pulling him away from the company.There were almost 900 fewer registered electric vehicles in Cook County from January to February, according to the latest data from the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office.Lavern Canteen, a longtime car salesman at McGrath Automative Group in West Town, said he’s only traded for two of a slew of Teslas brought in recently. One of the cars, with only 4,000 miles on it, came from a “pissed” federal employee, Canteen said.“Nobody wants to buy them, no dealer wants to trade for them, because you can’t sell them,” Canteen said. “Don’t expect to get what you paid for it.” Trump, who signed an executive order to erase tax breaks for electric vehicles, shopped for a Tesla Tuesday on the White House driveway after vowing he’d buy one as a “show of confidence” in Musk. Musk has been given the reins of a new Department of Government Efficiency — known as DOGE — with legally questionable authority. In Chicago, Musk’s efforts have laid off federal workers, moved to close federal offices Downtown and shuttered Veteran Affairs programs that were run out of local ward offices.Trump said on his own social media platform that Musk was “doing a fantastic job,” calling the movement to “illegally and collusively boycott Tesla” the workings of “radical left lunatics.” Musk said on X, formerly Twitter, that “vandalism is not free speech.”Joe Allen, a local organizer of TeslaTakedown, is helping plan another demonstration called “Don’t buy Nazi cars!” for noon Saturday outside the Gold Coast showroom. He believes the effort can be more effective than simply cathartic, “eating away at the image” Musk built as an innovator.“Democrats, in the opinion of a lot of people, aren’t doing anything to fight Trump. But there’s people who want to fight Trump,” Allen said. “Focusing on the nefarious role of Musk for attacking veterans services, social security, that’s what’s maddening to people. And with Tesla, this is where he’s vulnerable.” Lon Goodman watched the protest Saturday from inside his Tesla. “I’m honestly ashamed to own this car,” Goodman said. “I bought it way before I knew Musk had the leanings he had. I’m here with my son to expose him to protests.”A few people trickled into the Gold Coast showroom as the protest went on Saturday, including one man who said “we love Elon” but declined to give his name or comment further. Erfin, an Uber driver, said he switched to a Tesla over the summer after a charger was installed in his building, adding that “politics doesn’t get in the way of my job.”“I put in almost 200 miles a day doing Uber, and the amount of money and time I’m saving not having to deal with gas is worth it,” Erfin, who declined to share his last name, said Saturday. “I think [Musk] is a good man, but he should sell the company if he’s going to work in government. It’s a conflict of interest.”Just outside the showroom, demonstrator Alea Perez called Musk’s government involvement “gross.”“He was not an elected official that citizens chose to put into any tradition of power,” Perez said. “He’s trying to hoard wealth, and it’s going to be damaging to the wellbeing of all Americans with this DOGE s—.”Allen, a 63-year-old former Teamster who has been no stranger to city picket lines, said the protest Saturday — smaller than many after Trump’s first election — gave him a bout of déjà vu. “If you closed your eyes, would you know it was 2017 or 2025?” Allen said. “People want to do something. … This is the beginning.”Support Local News!Subscribe to Block Club Chicago, an independent, 501(c)(3), journalist-run newsroom. Every dime we make funds reporting from Chicago’s neighborhoods. Already subscribe? Click here to gift a subscription, or you can support Block Club with a tax-deductible donation.Listen to the Block Club Chicago podcast:
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Source: https://blockclubchicago.org/2025/03/13/chicagoans-ditch-their-teslas-to-protest-elon-musk-nobody-wants-to-buy-them/