The Definitive Story of Tesla Takedown

Sunny Afternoon in April in Seattle, around forty activists gathered at the Pine Box, a beer and pizza bar in the sometimes scouring district of Capitol Hill. The group had reserved a side part attached to the external patio; Before the start of the remarks, the participants rushed, enjoying the hot day. Someone has set up an audio system. Then the activists settled, tightening their ears while streams call speakers less than perfect.

In addition to a decade of climate organization, it was the first time that Emily Johnston, one of the group’s leaders, was attended by a Happy Hour to listen to the quarterly results of a business. From the first time, a local television station also appeared to cover such a happy hour. “This whole campaign was just a magnet for attention,” she says.

The group, officially called the troublemakers, was immediately rewarded. Tesla CEO Elon Musk started the call for investors for the first quarter of 2025 with a side recognition exactly the work that the group had been doing for two months. He called on the upper national level to the so-called Government Department of Effectivenessor DOGE, an effort to reduce public spending with young technologies and former students of Musk Company, named – with a typical development of the Internet – for a early 2010.

“Now, the demonstrations you will see there, they are very organized, they are paid,” Musk told listeners. For weeks, thousands of people – including troublemakers – had camped outside the Tesla exhibition rooms, service centers and charging stations. Musk suggested that not only were they paid for their time, but they were only interested in his work because they had already received “unnecessary generosity” from the federal government. Had presented Theory and sharpened it on Its X social media platform For weeks. Now he argued, the demonstrators were out of the Dole and furious.

Musk did not offer any evidence of his claims; For a person, each demonstrator who spoke to Wired insisted so that they are not paid and are exactly what they seem to be: people who are angry with Elon Musk. They call their movement “Tesla Takedown”.

Before Musk was on the call to speak to investors, Tesla, who has undoubtedly launched an effort now of several dollars for the transition of world electricity cars, had presented them one of the worst quarterly financial reports of the company for years. Net profit fell 71% from one year to the next; Income has dropped more than $ 2 billion less than Wall Street expectations.

Now in Seattle, the first minutes of Musk’s remarks left revelers, many veterans of the climate movement, dizzy. Someone close to the speakers of Stateticky repeated the best parts of the little crowd: “I think that probably starting next month, May, my time allowance in Doge will drop considerably,” Musk said. Under a disco ball in rotation, people shouted and applauded. Someone held an snapshot in Tesla’s actions performance in the past year, a black and falling black line.

“If you have always wanted to know that the protest is important, here is your proof,” recalls Johnston for weeks later.

The Tesla Takedown, an effort to retaliate on Musk and its wealth where it hurts, seems to have appeared at the right time. Tesla skeptics have argued for years that the company, which has the highest market capitalization of any automaker, is overvalued. They argue that the CEO of the company has been able to distract defective fundamentals – a range of aging vehicles, a Cybertrucck sales flop, the very outstanded introduction of autonomous technology – with its altitude and meaning.