President Donald Trump, in solidarity with Tesla owner Elon Musk, warned on Tuesday that protesters who commit violence at Tesla dealerships will be labeled “domestic terrorists.”
Asked by a reporter about authorizing such a label, Trump answered firmly: “I will do that, I’ll do it. I’m going to stop them.”
In recent weeks, Tesla locations in the U.S. have seen a string of attacks. For instance, a Colorado transgender-identifying man was arrested last month and charged with one count of malicious destruction of property after having spray-painted “Nazi” on a Tesla sign and thrown Molotov cocktails in a Tesla parking lot. The suspect visited the store, in Loveland, Colo., more than once.
Tesla vehicles and charging stations have also been vandalized. Four Tesla Cybertrucks in Seattle and seven charging stations near Boston were recently set on fire.
Trump said he would not tolerate these destructive actions, noting that the Tesla protesters are “harming a great American company.” The president argued he would do the same for other American corporations.
“Those people are going to go through a big problem when we catch them. We’ve got a lot of cameras up, we already know who some of them are. We’re going to catch them. And they’re bad guys. They’re the same guys that screw around with our schools and universities, the same garbage,” Trump declared.
“And, no, we’re going to catch them. And let me tell you, you do it to Tesla, and you do it to any company, we’re going to catch you, and you’re going to go through hell.”
The comments came as Trump stood outside the White House with Musk, who showed the president a selection of his company’s electric vehicles. Trump bought a red Tesla Model S at full price to show his support for Musk.
The tech billionaire has recently taken flak for his cost-cutting efforts as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency and his role as a senior Trump adviser. Democrats take issue with Musk as DOGE continues to cut waste, fraud, and abuse at the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Internal Revenue Service, and other executive agencies and departments.
Tesla has also taken a substantial hit, with its stock dropping more than 50 percent since December. Tesla’s shares plunged 15 percent on Monday, marking the company’s worst day on the market in over four years.
Musk admitted that, this week, he had “great difficulty” balancing his businesses, including Tesla and SpaceX, with his new advisory role in the White House.
Amid the political backlash, Trump is standing beside Musk. The president had revealed earlier on Tuesday that he would buy a Tesla.
“I’m going to buy because, No. 1, it’s a great product. As good as it gets. No. 2, because this man has devoted his energy and his life to doing this, and I think he has been treated unfairly,” Trump said of Musk in the afternoon.
“I mean, nobody else has a car company started up in the last 30 years that’s been successful, I don’t think so,” Trump added. “But because he’s finding all sorts of terrible things that have taken place against our country, we want to penalize him in an economic sense. And I just think that’s very unfair. So I just wanted to make a statement. I’m going to buy one now.”