Political protest is woven into the very fabric of the U.S.
The seeds of the American Revolution were planted through political protest, and the idea was so sacrosanct that the founders made the right to peacefully assemble part of the First Amendment to the Constitution.
Though it is a right enshrined in the Constitution, high-profile corporate executives rarely exercise free political speech. The potential blowback from people who disagree with a political stance just isn’t worth it.
As the great basketball player Michael Jordan once eloquently stated, “Republicans buy sneakers, too.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has thrown that conventional wisdom out the window in recent months, full-throatedly supporting President Donald Trump and his agenda and spending close to $300 million to help his candidacy.
The Supreme Court ruled in 2010’s Citizens United vs. FEC decision that political donations are a form of speech and therefore are protected by the First Amendment.
However, the Court has also repeatedly made clear that the right to speak freely has limits, and those limits are reached when free speech turns violent.
Tesla has taken the brunt of the political fallout as Elon Musk has drawn closer to President Trump.
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Tesla’s CEO speaks freely, prompts controversy
Musk’s foray into politics over the past year has illuminated his own beliefs on some very controversial topics while adding unwanted scrutiny to his most consumer-facing company, Tesla (TSLA) .
The fallout has been immediate, and sharp.
In January, Tesla reported its first-ever annual drop in deliveries, moving 1.79 million vehicles in 2024 compared with 1.81 million deliveries in 2023.
Since Musk hasn’t limited his political speech to the U.S., he has very publicly endorsed Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland, or AfD, party, and Tesla’s fortunes in Europe are also falling.
Related: Tesla sends dire warning about escalating the trade war
In January, Tesla sales plummeted by double-digit percentages in several major European markets, including Germany, the UK and France.
That month, Tesla sales in Sweden dropped by 44%. In France, Tesla sales collapsed by 63%, while sales in Norway dropped by 38% and sales in the Netherlands dropped by 42%.
Organized boycotts are also a protected form of free speech, and there is evidence that Musk’s political activities are hurting Tesla, his most important business.
But recently Musk and Tesla have also been facing forms of political retaliation that law enforcement is calling domestic terrorism.
Attacks against Tesla are domestic terrorism: DOJ
Earlier this week in Las Vegas, someone shot and set fire to several Tesla vehicles at a repair facility.
When officers responded to the scene a bit before 3 a.m. local time (midnight EDT), they found the word “Resist” spray-painted on the front doors of the facility. The individual fired at least three rounds from a gun at vehicles in the lot, reports say.
Related: Tesla Bull sounds the alarm on Elon Musk’s leadership
According to the police, five Teslas were damaged in the attack, including two that “were fully engulfed by fire.”
President Donald Trump has come out forcefully in support of Musk, calling him a patriot and espousing a conspiracy that the suspect was not acting alone.
“If and when they catch the people, and I hope they do, the good thing is they have a lot of cameras in those places … I think you will find out that they are paid by people that are very highly political on the left,” Trump told Fox News in an exclusive interview.
The police have said the suspect is a man, who was dressed in black. They have not said they are investigating other suspects.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Pam Bondi has come out to condemn what she described as an act of domestic terrorism.
“The swarm of violent attacks on Tesla property is nothing short of domestic terrorism,” she said on Tuesday. “The Department of Justice has already charged several perpetrators with that in mind, including in cases that involve charges with five-year mandatory minimum sentences.”
Organized protests outside Tesla showrooms and overt acts of vandalism against Tesla cars and its superchargers have become frequent.
On March 3, the French newspaper La Depeche reported that an act of arson outside a Tesla showroom near Toulouse, France, destroyed 12 Tesla vehicles.
The same day, NBC 10 Boston reported that investigators in Littleton, Mass., believe a fire at a Tesla supercharger in the town was intentionally set.
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