Protests have popped up at Tesla dealerships across the country opposing the company’s billionaire owner Elon Musk. One of those protests took place in Tulsa over the weekend.
Around 60 protesters gathered Saturday at the Tesla service center along 129th East Avenue. They’ve gathered there each of the past few weeks to voice anger at Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“To me, it’s just like 1984 happening in the real world right now,” said Luke, a demonstrator who would not provide his last name. “The way they change their language and shift targets and goals so quickly that. I mean, how can you possibly keep up?"
Musk, who Trump appointed as senior advisor and made de facto leader of DOGE, has championed sweeping cuts to the federal government under the guise of rooting out “fraud” in agencies like the Social Security Administration.
Some supporters of Musk and Trump drove for hours to observe Saturday’s protest. About a dozen showed up, like Chuck Williams, who said he was called “fascist Nazi or something like that.”
Williams said he wanted to listen to the protesters.
“I’m not here to start arguments, anything like that. If I don’t understand something, I want to be explained to,” he said. “You don’t have to yell it, push it down my throat. Just explain it.”
Following reports of vandalism against Telsa cars and storefronts, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi suggested such acts could fall under domestic terrorism.
“That’s such a slippery slope for all of us with our First Amendment right,” said protester Julie Knapp. “I don’t support anyone causing a fire for Tesla. That’s not why we’re here. We’re here to speak out.”
While the protest remained peaceful, there were some arguments. At one point, a quarrel broke out between one protester with a megaphone and a man wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat on his head and a pistol at his side.
Before the protest, a local man had made an offer on social media to compensate people who showed up as counterprotesters. No one reported being paid.
