Tesla Vandalism Hurts The Cause More Than It Helps

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Last Updated on: 19th March 2025, 10:42 am

Before I get into why I think people need to stop burning, shooting, and painting swastikas on Teslas, let me first start by explaining that I get it. Trump and Elon Musk are doing some awful things. Perhaps more importantly, multiple judges have ruled that what they’re doing is most likely illegal, and have thus ordered them to stop. More court cases are coming up every day, but multiple administration officials have indicated that they’re simply going to ignore the courts. With the courts nor the Democratic Party showing that they have yet to evolve into vertebrates and put a stop to the unlawful and unconstitutional actions, people are feeling like they have no choice but to take drastic action to protect freedom.

But, just because you’re right doesn’t mean that anything you do will also be right. Even if it’s morally acceptable to burn and pillage Tesla to tank Elon Musk, that doesn’t mean it’s a smart tactic. The thing we have to keep in mind is that burning a few Teslas isn’t going to hurt the company that much. Even if hundreds or thousands of the cars are destroyed, Tesla and its insurers can weather that storm. Even worse, images of burning cars and swastikas painted on don’t play well with the public. These sorts of actions allow the people who need to be convinced to abandon Musk and Trump to view them as victims or wonder whether either side is good.

What really hurts Tesla is falling sales. With people upset at what Elon Musk is doing, sales are tanking globally. Cars sitting on lots instead of selling means that the company can’t turn a profit. It also means that the company has to deal with “lot rot,” finding places to park the cars, and (if it goes on for long enough) idling factories. These kinds of expenses can actually take the company down. They’ve already led to significant cuts to Elon Musk’s net worth that impact his ability to keep supporting MAGA.

Don’t Give MAGA Any More Martyrs

I can’t remember which book this came from, but in a college course I took about resistance movements 20 years ago, I learned this: whoever gets the most martyrs wins. Having people on your side be victimized sucks, but history shows that this is true over and over. The American Revolution wouldn’t have taken off if the Redcoats hadn’t committed massacres. When a regime commits atrocities, it loses international and local support that it badly needs to stay afloat. When the resistance gets into violence and vandalism before the regime commits any naked acts of aggression, they lose even more badly needed support.

Here’s an example: the Boston Tea Party didn’t happen until three years AFTER the Boston Massacre. In today’s environment of mass communication, things could move a lot faster than they did in the 1770s, but the fact still remains that you have to let the empire completely discredit itself before people will consider vandalism and violence morally warranted.

If you really want to have an impact on Tesla this early in the game, focus on non-violent resistance while preparing for morally justifiable self-defense against acts of unjustified violence that might come later. When the regime gets desperate enough, it will lash out and destroy its public image. At that point, nobody’s going to care about burning cars, vandalism, and even killing in self defense.

But we’re not even close to that point. Stick with picketing, social media activism, telling relatives you’ll disown them if they buy a Tesla, and any other thing you can do without giving the regime the ability to call itself the victim.

Featured image: The Boston Massacre by Paul Revere (Public Domain).