The Left’s Malicious Campaign Against Tesla

The Left’s loathing of Elon Musk has reached a fever pitch. This month, activists claim to have organized more than 500 protests targeting Tesla—a campaign they’ve branded the “Tesla Takedown.” Vandals have scratched and spray-painted parked cars, demonstrated outside sales lots, and in some cases even torched electric vehicles.

What explains such hostility?

“Musk has become a symbol of everything progressives oppose: oligarchy, capitalism, wealth, and innovation,” writes Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Christopher F. Rufo. “They scorn the futuristic Cybertruck, SpaceX rockets, and Optimus robots, believing such creations should be dismantled and repurposed into chassis for public buses or I-beams for public housing.”

The campaign is more than a nuisance—it’s political violence. This is exactly why President Trump should step in, Rufo argues. Justice Department prosecutors should punish “those who destroy property as a means of political intimidation,” he writes.

If elected mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani would likely advance troubling policies—especially on child welfare. As a state assemblyman, Mamdani has cosponsored bills that would have banned drug screenings of pregnant women without parental consent and barred anonymous reports of suspected child abuse, requiring callers to identify themselves.

“Thankfully, these legislative efforts failed (for now),” write Rafael A. Mangual, Nick Ohnell fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and Naomi Schaefer Riley, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. “But as mayor, Mamdani would be ideally placed to put these ideas into practice, just as ‘progressive’ prosecutors use their offices to enact policies that lawmakers reject.”

Since 1996, several states have implemented “percent-plan” policies that grant admission to public universities based on class rank rather than test scores.

These plans, argues Manhattan Institute Fellow Renu Mukherjee, function as a de facto form of affirmative action. Many high schools are racially or ethnically homogenous, so top-ranking students often reflect those demographics. Yet the policies rarely deliver academic gains for the students they’re meant to help.

Elon Musk and the White House agree: Tesla arsonists are engaging in domestic terrorism. But federal terrorism law might not be the best way to hold them accountable, writes Kyle Shideler, director and senior analyst for homeland security and counterterrorism at the Center for Security Policy. Read his reasoning here.

“The DEI battle at the Ivy League colleges and elsewhere will go on for years. It’s a war of attrition.”

Photo credits: Isaac Wasserman / Contributor / NCAA Photos via Getty Images