It’s a tough time to be a Tesla owner.

Despite not being a member of the Cabinet, Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, has had an outsized role in President Donald Trump’s administration, launching an internal campaign to radically upend federal governmental agencies. As a result, tens of thousands of government employees have been fired or laid off over the past few weeks.

Musk’s constitutionally questionable authority ― along with his erratic behavior, including a speech during which he gave a salute that looked like a Nazi “Sieg heil” gesture ― have left many shareholders and Tesla drivers aghast. Tesla’s stock is unraveling in the U.S., down more than 8% this week, after news came out that the electric carmaker’s European Union and United Kingdom sales had taken a 45% hit in January.

As for current Tesla owners, some who waited years to get off the waitlist and into a car are now considering offloading theirs (or they already have) because of Musk’s government meddling.

“I admired Elon’s vision and his mission for helping to save the planet and finally got one after waiting three years,” said Doug, a man from Arizona, who like a few others in this story asked to use his first name only for privacy.

“But Elon has gone off the rails since the election. I can’t understand how he could be alienating the base of people who supported him and his environmentalism mission,” he said. “My dad and I both just traded in our Model 3s for Lexus EVs.”

That movement to personally divest from Tesla is growing. The past few weeks have seen #TeslaTakedown pickets outside Tesla showrooms in over 100 cities. Photos show Tesla Model S and X drivers awkwardly driving past signs reading “Burn a Tesla: Save Democracy” and “Don’t Buy Swasticars,” as outrage over Musk’s role in the Trump administration grows.

Drivers of Tesla’s Cybertrucks have it worse than others. The car was already widely ridiculed for its clunky design, technical issues and exorbitant price tag, but Musk’s role in the Trump White House has made Cybertruck owners an even larger target.

“At first, people would joke about the Cybertruck, give a thumbs-up, thumbs-down — whatever,” Cybertruck owner Kumait Jaroje recently told Newsweek. “Then suddenly, I’m getting middle fingers, people yelling at me, acting like I just drove out of a Trump rally.”

Cybertruck social media groups are filled with similar examples of drivers being verbally harassed, flipped off or having their vehicles vandalized with graffiti. One photo recently posted on X, formerly Twitter, shows a Cybertruck tagged with a Nazi swastika in lower Manhattan.

Many on the Facebook groups are still proud to drive the car. Unfortunately for those who aren’t, Tesla reportedly won’t allow trade-ins for the electric pickup truck.

But even drivers of more commonplace Tesla vehicles are wanting to distance themselves from Musk, including Sheryl Crow. Earlier this month, the “Everyday Is A Winding Road” singer sold her Tesla Model S in protest of Musk, donating the proceeds to NPR, “which is under threat by President Musk.”

Many Tesla drivers drew the line at Musk ramping up his insults toward Holocaust victims. There was the much-discussed salute, sure, but the tech CEO also has allowed neo-Nazi accounts to proliferate on X, sparking an uptick in offensive content there. In December, Musk publicly endorsed the German Alternative für Deutschland, or AfD, a far-right political party with deep ties to the Neo-Nazi movement.

Bruce Mainzer of Chicago is driving a Ford Mustang Mach E after ridding himself of his Tesla in June 2023, when Musk endorsed a post about an antisemitic conspiracy theory on X.

“When I bought the car in 2022, I told friends and family that Musk did not really design Tesla cars, so my love of the car was independent of my disgust of Musk,” Mainzer told HuffPost. “But by the time Musk bought Twitter in late 2022, and then allowed pro Nazis to regularly post on the platform, I had enough and couldn’t wait to get rid of the car.”

“My parents are immigrants to the U.S. who escaped Nazi Europe so my Tesla became a badge of shame, and I was so glad to get rid of it,” he added.

Skylar from Chicago also said that he never liked Musk but loved the Tesla brand nonetheless and firmly believed his Model Y would be his “forever car.”

“I thought the Model Y was the coolest vehicle ever. It was everything I wanted in a car,” he said. “That being said, I always thought Musk was a bit of a grifter, especially given his early days ripping off Model S owners, not to mention the way he screwed over the Tesla Roadster reservation holders.”

Skylar gave credit to Musk and Tesla for revolutionizing the auto industry and boosting electric vehicle sales but said he’s been eager to sell ever since Musk’s salute stunt.

“There are other EVs out there,” he said.“I’m looking at a Polestar 3 right now because I will only drive an EV from now on. But I no longer need to drive a car that is associated with literal Nazism.”

Others, like Mike from New Jersey, are holding on to their Teslas. His family typically purchases cars and holds onto them for years, and he isn’t planning on changing that just because he’s driving a Tesla.

“Plus, I do not subscribe to any Tesla services, like ‘self driving,’ which is not ready for prime time anyway, so I’m not putting any more money in his pocket,” he said.

That said, he’ll never buy another one.

“I would not want to put any more money in Elon’s pocket; he’s already getting government subsidies for that,” he said.

Some who bought their Tesla for its light environmental footprint feel it doesn’t make climate sense to dispose of a Tesla in favor of another car. Writing in Heatmap, a publication focused on climate change, tech reporter Andrew Moseman argued in favor of holding onto your Tesla, even if it bugs you.

“You’ll probably wind up purchasing a new EV that needed a reasonable amount of carbon emissions to create (not to mention water and other resources), and will need years of driving on cleaner energy to make up for it. What’s gained in virtue signaling is lost in carbon dioxide,” he said.

There’s at least one person who’s benefiting from all this Tesla driver angst: Matt Hiller, a Hawaiian man who in January 2023 began selling “I Bought This Before We Knew Elon Was Crazy” stickers on Etsy.

Up until then, he’d only been selling fish-related stickers. (Hiller has a fondness for sea life and works at an aquarium). But these days, his sticker shop is very anti-Elon oriented to meet the moment. (Other offerings include “Anti Elon Tesla Club” and “Elon Killed My Resale Value.”)

“The day he took the stage at a rally for the first time alongside Trump and jumped all around became my record high from sales,” Hiller told HuffPost. “Then, the day after the election was huge. What really sent things into overdrive though was his ‘salute.’ Since then I have had a sustained 400-500 sales per day across all my sticker styles.”

Hiller estimates he’s surpassed 40,000 sales worldwide from Tesla owners who he says see the sticker as a stop-gap measure until they can afford to sell or trade in their cars.

“My product reviews often say things like, ‘I won’t drive my car without this!’ or ‘Essential accessory for the times we’re in,‘” he said. “They’re thrilled to have something that distances themselves from Elon.’”