This Saturday, March 1st, Portland will join 74 other cities in a protest against Tesla, the company owned by Elon Musk. And of course someone has organized a group ride to the event.
Musk has become a lightning rod of controversy since President Donald Trump took over the presidency last month. As an unelected member of Trump’s inner circle, Musk has haphazardly slashed workforces at government agencies, throwing thousands of lives into disarray. His motivations and actions have been based o personal grudges and business interests. Musk also made a Nazi salute at an event in January, then brushed it off as if it were just a joke.
“The news is pretty grim these days. If Congress won’t act, how can anyone stop a hostile government takeover by Nazis?” reads the Ride to Tesla Takedown Protest event description. “#TeslaTakedown is a grassroots, leaderless movement to take down Elon Musk’s greatest source of wealth: his over-inflated car company.”
Organizers behind Tesla Takedown say 74 cities across America have signed up to participate. The plan is to meet up and make signs, then ride to a Tesla dealership to discourage new customers, implore existing owners to sell their Teslas, and to dump stock in the company.
“If you know of someone who owns a Tesla, encourage them to sell it and trade up for an E-Bike or Electric Cargo Bike (or one of the many other better EV’s on the market!” organizers of Saturday’s event say.
The ride will meet at 9:00 am at Floyd’s Coffee in Ladd Circle, then ride to the Tesla showroom on South Macadam. More details on the Shift calendar.
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Conveniently located next door to the ICE building.
Portland “don’t end up on Fox News again” challenge
loooool
Nah, let’s keep ending up on Fox News until one or both of these things happen 1) the rule of law is restored and/or 2) Fox viewers take us off their vacation destination list
I vote for restoration of rule of law. The tourist industry (food, beverage, hotels, transportation) in Portland still hasn’t recovered from the pandemic. Everybody’s money is green even Fox viewers.
Nah…their money is brown.
As a fed employee I wish you luck, safety and thank you for your efforts!! It’s been insane the last little bit and bringing peaceful attention is good attention!
Great idea to trade T*slas for e-bikes 🙂
If the South Macadam location isn’t convenient, there are dealerships in Tigard, Vancouver, and Salem as well.
One thing I’ve noticed is that Tesla drivers especially WankPanzer operators are very careless about how they park. Anyone can take a few minutes out of their day to report these parking violations which I have been making a point to do anytime I see a Tesla abandoned in an illegal way. The Portland enforcement hotline can be reached at 503-823-5195.
Yeah, let’s just report one type of car….if you own a Tesla you must be an evil Trump or Musk supporter?? Come on Bjorn……
Great idea. Does anyone know where to report illegally covered license plates? A very high percentage of T*slas also seem to have covered their plates.
See ORS 803.550 (2): “A registration plate is illegally altered for purposes of this section if the plate has been altered, modified, covered or obscured in any manner…” A clear cover is still a cover, and thus, illegal.
I observe a higher percentage of Tesla drivers (as compared to drivers of other makes that they deem “fancy”) who disregard the requirement to display a front license plate. ORS 803.540 (1b)
If the vehicle is parked, can parking enforcement issue a citation, or is it a moving violation, and must be cited
whenif ever pulled over by a police officer?I hear that cyber truck drivers really like it when people honk in admiration.
Yeah- it’s too bad that this company is tied to such a grotesque sociopath and sales of these vehicles directly support his destruction of democracy and the suffering of millions of people.
Other EVs are superior and cheaper anyway.
This is essentially why all of your Tesla stroking is meaningless.
Let’s be honest here, you are a Musk supporter. You approve of millions of people abruptly losing access to life sustaining medications. clinical trials being stopped overnight endangering participants, federal workers getting axed without cause, shifting the world order to autocracy, creating a national crypto reserve, enabling and promoting fascist regimes and white supremacy around the world.
Go ahead, take the mask off and make the arguments that you really want to. It’s too obvious.
Please, please, please no vandalism. I too despise Elon, but messing up his stuff makes Portland and Oregon look bad and builds sympathetic support for the richest man in the world. Vandalizing musk’s junk could also result in painful retribution on all Oregonians, from a cruel and vindictive president.
Meanwhile Tesla is not the attractive brand it once was and it is losing market share without outside help.
Makes no sense to abandon driveable cars.
Instead I’d urge tesla owners who don’t want to sell their cars to pry the tesla insignia off. No free advertising for Musk!
Replace it with Toyota insignia from the junkyard to reduce the shame of driving a Muskmobile and watch people wondering ~hmmm Toyota is making a car that looks a lot like a tesla now?~
Arendt:
“obedience and support are the same.”
Riiight, but the virtue signaling of smashing windows, setting, dumpsters on fire and fueling the Fox News hate machine will usher in a better world.
The first two weeks of Tesla protests were mostly senior citizens. The energy is very positive.
The hobbyist protestors who gear up like they are heading to Fallujah and have bad intentions have all disappeared.
Come on down!
Actually, “vandalism” is a win-win situation here. Tesla drivers could partner with graffiti artists to enhance their Teslas with anti-Musk messages. It would be unclear who volunteered for this and who was truly vandalized without their consent. This would discourage future Tesla purchases and reflect the massive anti-Musk sentiment that exists and needs an outlet.
“vandalism” is in quotes because it is not vandalism if people do it to their own property.
“…also result in painful retribution on all Oregonians, from a cruel and vindictive president.“
The retribution is already happening with the loss of Federal employees throughout Oregon and in critical areas that affect Oregon and the PNW. It’s just starting. They have already demonstrated their goal to fire more workers and once there isn’t enough staff to run federal parks, preserves and all other spaces it will be time to auction them off to be privately run or opened up for exploitation/extraction to fight the deficit that is about to be blown up by the insane tax breaks they just revealed.
I don’t know if demonizing T*sla cars is the right thing to do, but Americans are now being demonized due to their employment, the way they look, the way they act and who they care for.
https://www.opb.org/article/2025/03/01/noaa-firing-seattle-orca-saving-employee/
The article mentions privatizing the functions NOAA now does as if that will actually somehow save money. The talent, abilities, data, institutional knowledge and real property are all going to go up for sale so the government can give money away to a corporation to perform these same duties without any influence on how it is done.
As shown below, these people are living in a deluded fantasy world where government employees aren’t actually hard working people.
Actually, it’s very similar to anti-Jewish tropes of hidden figures behind the scenes amassing fortunes by stealing from the hard working real citizens of which the Jews/government workers are not part of.
“Tax dollars are being siphoned off to fund unproductive and unnecessary programs that benefit radical interest groups while hurting hard-working American citizens,” the memo from Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought and Office of Personnel Management acting director Charles Ezell states.
It calls the federal government “bloated” and “corrupt.”
The memo orders agency directors to lay off large numbers of staff, save money, and get rid of real estate, all while increasing productivity and providing “better service for the American people.”
Strange that the thousands of pedestrians and bicyclists killed and maimed last year were done in by the likes of Ford, GM, Honda, Toyota, etc and no one cares. I do however remember a while back some radicals down in Eugene fire-bombed some SUV’s made my GM and Ford.
Are you deliberately missing the entire point?
Ford, GM, Honda, and Toyota are not run by a NAZI.
Good point but I’m not seeing the CEOs of GM and Ford trying to destroy our gov’t. There’s nothing wrong with calling attention to what Musk is doing. If he would go back to being a T*sla CEO, people would leave him alone. America is a “live and let live” kind of place.
Why would they, they regularly benefit from taxpayer funds to bail out their awful financial decisions, then privatize the benefits whenever things recover.
They might want to use a powerful position in government to, say, destroy regulatory agencies that have jurisdiction over what their companies do, or steer government contracts away from their competitors to their own company, or to make sure that the programs that they get money from stay financed or expand.
Foto from London to display:
And to prove it once again, the ultra liberals will eat their own.
Or the “ultra liberals” are guided more by principles than tribal loyalty.
Oh, for sure, these are the folks that are just synonymous with moral superiority and aren’t remotely dogmatic in any way.
It’s relative, which is why I used the qualifier “more.” But if “both sides” works for you- cherish it like a cuddly teddy bear.
Makes no sense to abandon driveable cars.
Instead I’d urge tesla owners who don’t want to sell their cars to pry the tesla insignia off. No free advertising for Musk!
Replace it with Toyota insignia from the junkyard to reduce the shame of driving a Muskmobile and watch people wondering ~hmmm Toyota is making a car that looks a lot like a tesla now?~
Let me guess the new Portland protest will be vandalizing the private property of Tesla owners…..will we once again hear the “it’s only property” refrain from 2020?
This will be my third week going to a protest at Tesla. There was no vandalism at the first two. We’re talking about senior citizens and families holding up signs and waving at cars on a Saturday morning. A handful of LEOs were called the first week but there were no issues and they left. I had a polite interaction with one who liked my “Support Civil Servants” sign.
Get off the internet and go see what’s actually happening in our community!
I’m sure all those businesses who no longer could get insurance and had to close thought it was “minor”.
Let me guess, you were one of those rioters who destroyed stuff that wasn’t yours and didn’t care who you hurt.
Virtue signaling Cancel Culture is alive and well it seems. How would selling one’s Tesla do anything to change the course in Washington, DC? Votes matter, not this silliness.
I disagree, Mary. Free speech is a hallmark of our self-governance. Doesn’t Musk himself say that all the time?
Voting is just one way to participate in democracy, Mary. Really it is the bare minimum an active citizen should be doing, not the end all be all of political change.
And over 40% of eligible voters, more than either candidate got, didn’t even bother doing that.
This silliness can impact votes.
“This silliness can impact votes.”
In two years, when we next have elections, protests at Tesla dealers are going to convince Portlanders to vote for a different Democrat?
As Oregonians, we don’t have many levers to pull at the moment, but one we do have is to let our federal representatives know how we feel, and tell them we want to see them take steps to slow things down.
Unfortunately, I don’t know that there’s a lot they can do, either, since in our infinite wisdom, Americans gave one party control of the whole shebang.
This is not about votes…I expect a bit more intelligence from you.
It is a good old fashioned consumer boycott and they work.
I realize being a defensive contrarian is what you think your role is on this forum but I think you met match trying to justify Elon Musk.
“This is not about votes”
The comment I was responding to was specifically about votes.
The Turtle showed them EXACTLY how it is done and it was very effective. But I do believe that also requires a spine to execute properly.
In two years a brand-destroying boycott as well as Tesla’s continuing under performance could make Muskrat wealth plunge enough to make him hesitate to spend another ~$300,000,000 on electing fascists.
I hope it works.
You really don’t understand that everything that happens in Washington is about economics? It’s just coincidence that the billionaires hang out with the president?
Which is why this is such an important moment. Biden was not in charge at the White House and his billionaire donors (you know, the ones whose chalets and mansions he stayed at) were calling the majority of the shots and the press and public didn’t care. Harris would have been a continuation of billionaire influence and some of the large slush funds that are coming to light.
Fortunately, Rump and M*sk were elected, took it instantly too far and now the American Oligarchy is exposed to all the citizens and those two are unpopular enough for the public to finally rise up in protest of what our political parties have descended into. Make no mistake, Rump is infinitely worse than Harris, but Harris wasn’t good either. The public needs to confront the obscene way that government is used as corporate welfare at the behest of the richest who don’t need any help.
The time is now!
I don’t think votes matter as much in brownshirt party states that are highly gerrymandered and harshly repress minority voter participation.
The brownshirt party loves to ban books/videos and threaten DOJ investigations over 1st amendment-protected speech so all the ululation about “cancel culture” is just projection.
Are you talking about the left brown shirt party, or the one on the right?
Only a Trump cult member thinks Trump/Musk and the “left”, whatever that is, are just the same…..
Here’s a question: would you cheer on another “J6”– but done by your side?
What kind of question is that?
Only the Trump cult has attempted a coup.
There is no equivalent to this Cult in American history.
I’m talking about the insurrection. Would storming the capitol be appropriate now? I ask because there are quite a few voices out there right now insisting that democracy doesn’t work and encouraging people to pursue violence against politicians, “oligarchs”, CEOs, certain brands of automobile, etc.
Bothsidesism again. Only one side actually cares about the constitution and it certainly isn’t the one being headed by a rotting yam.
There’s more than two sides, you know.
Lol, beat me to it. I don’t think one can get more twee than being a party big wig (of either party)
I’m not surprised that you don’t know the difference, but this is what brownshirts do to leftists:
“this is what brownshirts do to leftists”
Do you really want to argue about whether the left or the right killed more people in the 20th century?
It was the left, by a mile, but it also has little relevance to what is happening today.
I don’t like extremists of any persuasion.
I am very smart: authoritarian governments are “left”.
Maybe read up on how big important changes have happened in this country? It actually was not through voting.
And this is an effective outcome how, exactly?
Because now someone else will be driving it. Problem solved.
Basic economics. Less demand for a good drives down the value. Having the used market flooded with cheap Teslas will in turn drive down the value and profit margins for new Teslas. Teslas financial performance directly impacts Musk’s wealth.
Thanks Adam Smith. Tesla sold 1.7M cars last year, they are literally flooding the market with their own vehicles. About 20k of those were in Oregon, so even if this protest worked really well (it won’t, it will just add fuel to the fire that everyone here is mentally unwell) and they left the state, it wouldn’t remotely impact the stock price at all.
This is not a Portland only event. These protests are happening around the country. Tesla sales are also down significantly in Europe.
Before commenting in such a dismissive tone perhaps you should have done a small amount of research.
Why would I, BP commentariat have their pulse on the entire world, particularly matters of business? If I did research, I would find out that EV sales overall are down sharply everywhere, likely due to their total addressable market, getting, well, addressed. Of course that would be a narrative violation, and Musk can’t be blamed for Germans not buying BMW EVs, so that data is ignored and you decide instead to suggest others do research when you could you some modicum yourself.
Overall EV sales in Europe surged 34% in January, while Tesla saw its sales across the continent plummet by a staggering 45%.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/elon-musk-tesla-sales-europe-drop-bucking-ev-trend-share-price/
Instead of being constantly wrong, you could try doing actual research before commenting.
Although the stock price has been in a precipitous fall since end of 2024.
Tesla stock is down 30% in the last 3 months.
They are not flooding the market anymore in the US and Europe.
Sales are down 40% in Europe.
Elon Musk is becoming as toxic to his brand as it gets and shareholders are fed up.
Do you even attempt to read the news?
Oh dear, is Musk the reason people aren’t buying other EVs too?
https://insideevs.com/news/751787/january-car-sales-eu-evs/
Facts are hard for the MAGA crowd.
Tough times to be a fanboy.
I’m glad you are on the case, rooting out all the secret “MAGA Fanboys”.
Keep it up!
The real economic impact is more likely that protests will put people off from wanting to go to Tesla dealers. And just because something isn’t 100% effective doesn’t mean it doesn’t serve a good cause in the long run. Yes, this protest may not mean much on its own, but a thousand cuts require a thousand small jabs.
Well maybe it will be a good time to pick up a Tesla…they’re a sweet ride and don’t use fossil fuel!
Great virtue signaling opportunity.
Actually could be a good EV car buying opportunity (although I’m skeptical this “sell your Tesla” protest will do anything but fizzle)
I’m sure someone’s already been inspired to make a buck buying Teslas cheap in blue states and reselling them in red ones.
If Musk’s Tesla shares dropped to $0, he’d only be twice as rich as Bill Gates.
I hope these protests don’t wound him too deeply.
Being a Musk fanboy is a pretty tough job these days but still you manage…
Seems watts is just telling it like it will be. One can be a realist without being a “fanboy”. These protests are going to accomplish nothing, but by all means go.
Watts is just telling us how wealthy Elon is because wealth matters a lot to MAGA. I agree he is telling us how he feels.
Consumer boycotts work and they are accomplishing the goal.
Musk is losing a lot money and that matters to his fans.
“Being a Musk fanboy…”
If all you’ve got is random insults, you don’t have much.
It’s telling that you think being a Musk fanboy is an insult.
I thought he was a hero to the EV and self drive crowd which you are a big booster of.
I am sorry your Cult idol is an actual idiot.
Sick burn!
My statement is still correct. What is your goal here?
I was responding to the person who primarily posts insults rather than substantive comments. That person is not you. I don’t even see a comment from you in this thread, so I’m not sure what you think I was responding to
I do need to issue a general apology for breaking my normal rule and feeding the resident troll. I’ll try harder to resist in future.
Sorry — my confusion was due to message nesting ambiguity on my phone.
You wrote “Teslas financial performance directly impacts Musk’s wealth” and I responded that Musk would still be enormously wealthy even if his 13% stake in the company dropped to zero (which it’s not going to do).
Yes, you are right in that what happens to Tesla impacts Musk’s wealth. My point was not that your statement was untrue, but that the impact of protests at Portland area Tesla showrooms on Musk’s finances are likely to be de minimis. I doubt Tesla is selling many vehicles here regardless, and those who are still considering buying one are probably unlikely to be swayed by a protest.
I’m not saying don’t protest, I’m saying you’re probably not hurting Musk much by doing so.
It’s not complicated. If someone wants to buy a Tesla and there’s a relatively new one available at a discount they might choose to go with that instead of buying new. Which takes the money away from Tesla.
Driving down the price of used Teslas makes buying a new one even less attractive. Less revenue for the company whose stock comprises the vast majority of Musk’s wealth is a win.
Another effective collective action that could be pursued would be a supercharger boycott. More people can be involved in the action and Superchargers are an ever increasing portion of Tesla’s revenue mix.
It gets people off their ass and get some exercise, and even if it’s pointless and utterly useless, it helps BP folks feel like they are enhancing their free speech rights in their own form of pointlessness and uselessness, rather than someone else’s, even if it is in fact someone else’s. Very Portland.
If people are preferentially selling their used Teslas it drives down the price of used Teslas of all model years. If a ‘good used’ Tesla is much cheaper than a similar new Tesla then fewer new ones will be sold.
Since EM is unelected he doesn’t care about people who vote. No town halls, no visits to the district, no office hours, no staff answering the phone, etc. His power is largely derived from wealth. His wealth is based on the stock price of companies like Tesla.
If people are not buying Teslas (and increasingly they are not) that touches himself in the one place that he is vulnerable.
Just talked to a friend last night who is putting their tesla up for sale this weekend. They are disgusted by Musk and want to be sure that nothing they do supports his companies. They likened it to continuing to wear Yeezys, which are perfectly fine shoe, but they are inextricably tied to someone who promotes hate. Sometimes, a political action is just aligning consumer choices and symbols with one’s conscience. After all, consumer choice is driven largely by identity, whether people admit it or not.
Like all political action, people who make the effort to buy and promote things aligned with their values get the Goldilocks treatments from do-nothing nihilists. It is either too big of a deal, like “OMG, selling a very expensive car as a symbolic act, how silly and impractical.” Or it is insignificant, like “this one act will accomplish nothing.”
In this case, destroying the brand by treating a consumer item as if it is as repulsive as the CEO whose wealth depends on it, is very effective, if done at scale. Continuing to use one of these repulsive products indicates that the owner does not appreciate how utterly horrible and destructive Musk actually is.
There are very few (except maybe a few in the strangeness of Portlandia) that believe in virtue signaling enough to sell a well performing EV.
Maybe. It would be interesting to look back at other automotive companies that were run by nazis, like Ford and Volkswagen to see how consumers felt about there products once nazis lost popularity. Of course, they were OG nazis, whereas musk is going for more of a nazi 2.0 vibe.
Tesla sales are cratering everywhere and the stock is collapsing.
Nice try.
That has nothing to do with people selling their Teslas……
If it fell 50% from here, and it might, it would still be worth 2x Toyota. This is not the own you all think it is. Growth stocks are volatile, if growth slows, the stock goes down.
What if the share price is wildly over-valued? (Like AI stocks.)
I think Rolex watches are wildly overvalued, but people keep buying them.
Then people confident in that thesis should absolutely short the stocks in question to take advantage of being right.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-11-10/hedge-funds-shorting-tesla-just-lost-more-than-5-billion
Maybe this time will be different.
I don’t short, although that would probably play to my strengths, (not day-trading short, I’m not wired that way, but heavy research into a company shorting).
Speaking of shorts, did you catch Paul Krugman’s interview with Jim Chanos? All I needed to hear.
Realize that Elon doesn’t just “have” $400 billion or whatever sitting in a bank account. It’s nearly all valuation on Tesla stock, which he uses as collateral for massive loans to actually buy things (like $40bn+ for Twitter).
Reducing the value of that stock has a direct impact on his ability to swing around purchasing power, and (if it falls enough) could trigger forced stock sales to repay the aforementioned loans which would result in a dramatic loss of wealth.
For many Americans a car is the largest or second-largest purchase they’ll ever make. Prescriptively telling someone to “just sell it” is a huge projection of privilege onto someone who may not have the means to weather a multi-thousand-dollar loss.
I’ve paid off a couple car loans in my lifetime and for me that was a huge accomplishment. I don’t know if the folks in Ladd’s or Irvington or (insert gentrified neighborhood full of $1M homes) agree. Maybe $40,000 is pocket change to them? After all, they hang out in these comment sections and pretend that dropping $10k on an e-bike is affordable…
$10K is a lot, but there are some quite roadable ebikes available for a lot less.
Yes, the tesla driving demographic has no disposable income. Won’t someone think of poor tesla drivers that might loose a few thousand dollars, and will probably end up with a better car that will depreciate less over time.
The truth is, it’s only going to get worse. Telling tesla drivers to sell their cars now is doing them a favor. The toxicity of the brand is only going to cause further loss of value over time. And if the company has problems, who is going to keep sending out all of the recall notices?
I am guessing that you are an exception.
The record highest number of recalls, whether the car has to be taken in or they are done remotely, indicates that the car was problematically designed.
But, whatever, I don’t think anyone cares about your tesla, however, it would be cool if you spray painted something anti-Musk on it and discouraged other people from supporting this anti-democratic loser that is destroying your neighbors’ lives.
“it would be cool if you spray painted something anti-Musk on it”
It would be equally cool if you spray painted something anti-Musk on your car as well.
Not as cool, because this wouldn’t discourage people from buying teslas out of concern that they would be tagged.
I see… The threat of vandalism is what makes it “cool”.
Yes, that. And other car companies aren’t enriching fascists. This isn’t hard to understand.
Even better, donate it to charity and ride a bike.
If it’s not a SWASTICAR, then no need to explain that you do not support a fascist-run company.
I’m also fairly sure that you can afford to sell or spray paint it, so please do the right thing, Watts.
Musk is indefensible at this point. He is causing tremendous harm. It’s not about hating an individual, it’s about saving our society from a psychopath, grifters and fascists.
If you have no disposable income, you might be a better off selling it and buying a cheaper used car. We had a 2002 saturn that was solid, sold it I think for $2k, also had a mini van that never let us down for about $2k and solid it for even more, basically zero depreciation.
Plus the insurance was way cheaper.
Nice I think the quote I saw was like $2k a year for a used model 3 when I was looking. It was like 4x our current car… 🙁
Exactly. There are just too many ludicrous comments in this thread to respond to them all. But it takes a certain amount of chutzpah to suggest that people simply sell a vehicle at a significant loss because of the optics of it. And the idea that there will be demand for used Teslas because the market for new ones is softening is equally intellectually inconsistent.
I’m no fan of Elon, and I think Teslas are wildly overrated automobiles. But I’m also tired of the useless political theatrics that Portland loves to engage in.
Newer cars are depreciating assets, the value loss has already happened anyway it’s just unrealized. You should generally be able to sell it and buy a similar car – or if money is tight I’d suggest a cheaper car.
Of course if a Tesla sell off and or boycott actually happens in a significant way then the future value loss could get bigger too. If Tesla has a harder time selling even new cars they will discount them and the used cars will loose even more value.
Most people who bought Teslas are going to sell them for a huge loss eventually. Values have absolutely cratered over the past two years.
Car loans are pretty much always a bad idea if anyone has a Tesla on a loan even more reason to sell it. You can buy pretty decent used cars for like $3k and the best thing is they won’t even depreciate.
I don’t think I’ve ever spent more than $4k on an ebike and I’ve bought 4 or 5.
Lectric and Juiced are solid cheap bikes. This is a great deal for example – https://www.velowavebikes.com/products/clearance-sale-juiced-bikes-crosscurret-s2
I’ve had one for 8+ years and it’s great.
I own a tesla. Bought it when my company moved and I could no longer commute by bike which I’d done daily for almost 20 years. I bought it before the Nazi salute because I didn’t want a gas powered car. This is my first ever new car. I love it for when I need to drive. It felt like a better decision at the time. I wouldn’t buy one today because of Elon but asking people to sell their existing cars seems monetarily and environmentally excessive. I think it’s a good way to alienate people who share a lot of your same values and concerns. Just saying.
I really doubt that anyone would decide to support musk because others are trying to chip away at the wealth that he used to buy the election.
Well all have to operate in an imperfect system, and we all make choices that are sometimes linked to harm. That shouldn’t try and stop us from taking the margins and drawing lines when we can.
Approximately zero conservatives will be swayed by anti-Tesla sentiment. Across the US– but especially in Portland– it’s all about the left policing their peers.
Remember 2020? If you didn’t put an “In this house…” sign in your yard, your friends might consider you a secret racist. If they saw you doing anything not 100% in compliance with their own constantly-mutating social-media-sourced covid mask advice, you’d get accused of being a monster who wants vulnerable persons to die.
Tearing each other down is far, far easier than building each other up. And preaching to the choir? Portland doesn’t know how to do anything else.
These actions aren’t aimed at republicans or Musk fanboys. They are aimed at the people who actually have bought or would consider buying a tesla. And, at shifting the narrative of popular support like all other public demonstrations.
They must be effective if they are inspiring comments like these and they haven’t even happened yet.
A conservative person would not be swayed because they never would have indulged in something trendy, like a T****.
No, but apparently they are easily swayed by trendy MAGA hats and “own the libs” trinkets. Which is worse?
Yes, they prefer the timeless purchases, like fashionable $400 gold sneakers.
It’s also why the $80K Tesla Cybertruck buyers are overwhelmingly liberal.
“Approximately zero conservatives will be swayed by anti-Tesla sentiment“
I’m not sure you realize how bad things have gotten in a very short time. Outside of the DC/Virginia core, most government employees are pretty conservative. It’s been shocking to see the change in opinion of Rump/M*sk from before the election and now. Those two don’t actually have any conservative values and now the policies are out for all to see and it’s clear that “owning the libs” was not the only group they want to own. Its obvious it’s just more welfare for corporate and oligarch interests.
Hopefully the rest of us can focus on what we have in common with each other and with how little we have in common with a billionaire.
Putin is the puppet-master and Rump/M*sk are playing his tune to destroy our country very well.
I haven’t once mentioned russia or Putin. That’s the lefts fantasy, not mine. I’m dealing in the realities of what’s happening right now and not whatever it is you’re being told on CNN.
Yep Jake9. Authoritarian regimes aren’t very picky on where they limit due process, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, transparent elections etc. Regardless of your political beliefs, we now have a markedly different federal government, one that ostensibly remains as a 3 branch system, but is rapidly changing.
The executive branch has yet to ignore the judiciary or congress/senate, but the potential for that change is very real. Only twice in the history of the US has a president ignored the judiciary, once by Lincoln during the civil war and once by Jackson when allowing the then governor of Georgia to evict the Cherokee tribe (i.e., the trail of tears).
Whether you believe in small or big government, the 2nd amendment over all, absolute freedom of speech online, whatever, most of those things are now irrelevant if the executive branch starts ignoring the judiciary. If our executive branch follows through on all of the Project 2025 mandates (currently around 30%), our standing as a constitutional republic will be in serious question.
A comment that deserved to be posted in r/confidentlyincorrect.
The executive branch has repeatedly ignored the judiciary:
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-administration-ordered-fully-comply-with-order-lifting-funding-freeze-2025-02-10/
I myself have had an NIH study section meeting recently cancelled because the executive branch is still freezing federal registration of grant reviews despite a judge’s explicit order to not cancel grant review federal registration.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/23/trump-nih-health-medical-research
Us too, this is not an abstraction. OHSU received $277M in federal grants last year.
Absolutely right, it is not an abstraction at all. Thousands have been fired for no reason and by a form letter that lies about their performance reviews and talents.
It feels like for many that this is just the latest round in blue vs red and a chance for some civic disobedience, but it’s already past that.
What you and Soren are sharing about funds that were helping real things get done for real people still being frozen is atrocious!
Hard working people (it takes months to get a fed job) are losing their livelihoods. Military spouses are being let go and with the hiring freeze won’t be able to get a job at their next duty station or now. That’s just more families on support and more money wasted for no reason.
It feels unprecedented and we all need to consider that what has felt good to do in the past might not work this time. This time feels serious.
After rereading my comment I thought I should mention that I am not casting aspersions on those who are and have been protesting at various T*sla outlets. It’s important to draw attention to what is going on and I think it’s a great start!
My allusion to Andrew Jackson and Lincoln was to show the precedent for ignoring the supreme court specifically. Yes, ignoring ANY court order is an erosion of the judiciary and rule of law. Disregarding someone’s comment outright isn’t a great method if you want others to listen to you.
Nice retrocon, specifically.
In addition, how the #$%* could someone write that our fascist executive branch “has yet to ignore…congress/senate” when the fascists have blatantly violated dozens of laws registered by the legislative branch.
Again, soren, if you want people to listen to you, dismissing and labeling them isn’t a good method. We likely agree on a lot of the substance here, but you’ve both vilified and dismissed what I’ve said. That’s an excellent method of alienating yourself from pretty much everyone regardless of content.
You don’t know me and have no idea what I believe.
If someone disagrees, even forcefully, they should be/feel “alienated” from your community. This is such a ‘murrican point of view.
I am assuming that a comment that I made got shuffled into the block folder because I used a word that describes German fascists the 1930s. That doesn’t bother me, but the fact that it is pertinent to use this term, that is also used in the article, to describe the man who is the focus of these protests is disheartening.
This should go well.
it did go well from looks of this footage https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:opfzfo3c36xwexc34ql5ucke/post/3ljeqtsda5c2c