Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
Musk is CEO of the Tesla electric vehicle company and head of President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has become a political lightning rod over federal government job and program cuts.
Most of Musk’s estimated $340 billion fortune consists of Tesla stock, according to a March 29 Associated Press article. The “Tesla Takedown” movement encourages peaceful protests at Tesla facilities nationwide in opposition of Musk’s DOGE role.
Jones believes if Musk becomes bankrupt, “the current regime will have no interest in having him in the White House.”
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
In several states (including Nevada, Massachusetts and South Carolina), people have set fires damaging Tesla dealerships or charging stations. That has not been the case at local protests.
John Apesos of Centerville joined the protest to encourage people to sell their Teslas.
“Nobody elected Elon Musk, and I wish he would stay in his lane and do capitalism and not government,” Apesos said.
Others at the protest were alarmed about the country’s international standing, federal layoffs, and possible threats to Social Security.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
Talking to Fox News this week, Musk addressed only the violent protests, saying that he thinks “a great wrong is being done to the people of Tesla and our customers. Tesla is a peaceful company that has made great cars, great products. That’s all it’s done. It hasn’t harmed anyone.” Musk said he believed protesters “are being fed propaganda by the far left.”
Patricia Tatarzycki of Springboro is retired from the VA and has worked in social work in Dayton for 35 years.
“I just see so many things that I worked so hard for just starting to crumble,” Tatarzycki said.
She shared that her son, who will become a father in three weeks, is losing his job as a VA worker in Louisville.
Nancy Evans of Centerville, who is a Navy veteran and retired nurse, said she is “horrified at the way Elon Musk has torn apart our government and agencies like the Centers for Disease Control.”
She’s worries that Americans are going to be less safe. Evans said she has called her senators and U.S. Rep. Mike Turner weekly.
“To tell you the truth, I think it’s falling on deaf ears,” Evans said. “I hope people will wake up in America. I would like this protest to be two, three, 10 times as big as it is now.”
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
Republican State Rep. Phil Plummer, the Montgomery County GOP chair, said Trump was elected “with an overwhelming mandate to cut taxes, rein in government spending and that’s what they’re doing.”
“These guys can protest and march all they want and all they’re going to get are sore feet,” Plummer said. “This is the mandate people voted in and he’s executing it.”
Plummer said the Trump administration is “not going to harm anyone on social security, Medicaid, or Medicare.” He said those benefits “are not changing” but that there is fraud and waste that should be eliminated.
Mary Combs of Dayton said the goal of protesting is to get people to start thinking.
“I want to make people think about the danger that we’re in,” Combs said. “I was marching against the Vietnam War and then I sort of focused on abortion rights, and now I think we’re in the worst place yet.”
“I think for every person that’s out there, there are a hundred other people who really feel the same way,” Apesos said. “We’re here to encourage those people that their feelings are also valid.”
“Saving democracy. That is the most important thing right now,” Jones said. “It doesn’t matter what side you’re on, you better be on the side of saving democracy.”
Many of those in attendance are planning to participate in a national Mass Mobilization on April 5 by attending a Hands Off! rally.
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