Protesters are facing Elon Musk, the CEO of a company that is leading efforts to cut government jobs on behalf of President Trump on March 1, outside a Tesla store in Boston. Rodrique Ngowi/AP Hidden Caption
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Rodrique Ngowi/AP
Valerie Costa never expected to go straight into Elon Musk’s crosshairs, but she does.
Costa, 43, is a Seattle community organizer and co-founded a group of environmental activists called The Troublemakers. Recently, she helped organize a peaceful local protest as part of the Tesla Takedown. Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s campaign for federal government destruction and chaos has been opposed around the world.
In X’s post about the protests, Musk allegedly said the Costa Seattle group was backed by Actblue, an online fundraising platform for the Democrats.
She was confused.
“Well, we don’t fund ActBlue. We don’t use ActBlue. We don’t have any connections to ActBlue. It looks like $3,000 in our bank account. We can tell everyone who has donated.”
Musk fired another post before he could understand how Costa would respond. This time it was even more personal and inflammatory. “Costa is committing a crime,” he said.
The mask’s post provided no evidence or specific claims, but the message was clear. Musk has falsely denounced Costa for the violence directed at Tesla cars and facilities since President Trump’s inauguration and Musk took on the influential perch at the White House.
“When one of the most powerful people in the world says you’ve committed a crime, it doesn’t matter what the truth is,” Costa said.
Dozens of mask fans have targeted Costa with impulsive direct messages, social media posts and emails. In several messages reviewed by NPR, MUSK supporters said they hope that federal authorities will investigate her and even threaten physical violence against her.
“At that point, I began to realize, ‘Oh, no, I have to protect myself,'” she said.
Valerie Costa on the right will join other Tesla Takedown protesters demonstrating at an automaker facility in the Seattle area in early March. Elliot Stoller hides caption
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Elliot Stoller
She deleted as much personal information from the web as possible. Even her work emails were flooded with attacks, so she deleted the address from the consulting business website. She connected with a lawyer. She then gathered her roommates and created a safety plan.
“What happens if the Fed comes?” she said.
Her instructions were simple. Do not talk to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Insist on having a lawyer. Do not enter law enforcement without a warrant.
Costa fears Musk will use his White House power and influence to put more pressure on him.
Faced with growing protests against Tesla, Trump held an incident with Musk on the White House lawn last week, vowing to label vandalism and attacks on carmakers as domestic terrorism.
“I’ll do it. I’m going to stop them because if we catch someone doing it, they’re hurting a great American company,” Trump said, standing in front of Teslas’ line.
There have been arrests like those related to violence against Tesla facilities. Authorities have not said that any of the actions were coordinated.
Musk’s post about X amplified false theories about the person behind the protest, but also said it confused peaceful protests with acts of violence. It’s very vigilant, she said.
“I took a day and was totally afraid. What should I do? How can I deal with this? And now I’m very clear. I need to speak out and defend my right to protest. That’s an important part of what it means to be American,” Costa said.
Musk and the White House did not reply to requests for comment.
The Tesla Takedown protest is aimed at undermining the value of Tesla, the main source of mask wealth.
As an environmentalist, it may be troubling to oppose electric car makers, but her greater concern is that mask jobs will stop cutting the federal government.
“That destruction has a direct impact on people’s lives and happiness,” she said.
