Following Donald Trump’s second presidential victory, there was widespread hope that the widespread political divisions in America would explode.
However, we could not predict that the flash point would be an electric vehicle.
Teslas is burning with Molotov cocktails, plagued by bullets and stained with sw. The doors and windows are scrawled in a gorgeous, untouched electric car showroom at once, scribbled with blasphemy and Nazi symbols.
Teslas, once a beloved man of alternative energy advocates, is no longer a target for political violence. Experts say that while singles from individual vehicles are rare, activists who concentrate their anger on businesses have a long history in America.
No one has suffered any serious injuries in the case, but it has raised warnings from both law enforcement officials and political extremism experts as to where this is headed.
Brian Levin, professor emeritus at San Bernardino, California and extremism expert, said: “But now we are reaching another level of this kind of oriented arson and violence. It certainly has a threatening effect.”
The Tesla attacks are scattered and seem unadjusted. But one thing they think they have in common is to fire Tesla owner Elon Musk and federal workers and to his efforts to reduce the size of the government.
After Las Vegas was hit by the Splate of Tesla’s attack, Spencer Evans, the special FBI agent in charge of the Las Vegas Bureau, issued a warning to become a political destroyer.
“Specifically, I want to let you know that any of those who may think this is justified or potentially commendable,” he said. “We’ll come after you, we’ll find you and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law. I encourage anyone who considers this kind of thing to seriously rethink.”
This is not the first time that businesses and car brands have been targets of political protests and sometimes vandalism.
Protests over the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline’s energy transfer in North Dakota attracted public attention in 2016 and 2017, with months of encampment. This week, ju-degrees awarded pipeline companies more than $660 million in damages in a lawsuit against Greenpeace against Greenpeace for the role of environmental organizations.
In 2003, activists set fire to Chevrolet dealers, destroying or defiling dozens of hammers and other sports utility vehicles, scribbling much with the word “polluter.” The Earth Liberation Front, an extremist environmentalist association, claimed responsibility for the attacks at the time, and said it was intended to rob the companies responsible for the pollution of profit motives.
According to a 2003 Times report, the same group was suspected of being involved in a fire that tore a San Diego construction site that same year.
“For the past decade, ideologically motivated extremists and some volatile and singular types have not only targeted their strong attacks, but also their strong corporate or defence targets, not just against traditional, government, communication and academic companies, but also against their strong corporate or defence targets,” Levin said.
There is growing concern about Trump-era US political extremism. Especially after rioters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 to prevent Congress from certifying election results.
On his first day in office, President Trump allowed more than 1,500 people convicted of the January 6 crime to sweep or commute. The pardon and now efforts to protect Tesla have sent conflicting messages about how the Trump administration will deal with targeted political violence, Levin said.
“You can’t have it both ways,” Levin said. “If the Trump administration is about to give a speech, they need to take a walk in terms of target violence. You cannot choose and choose the specific ideology you like when it comes to legal responses to target violence.”
Atty. General Pam Bondy labelled the attack on Tesla dealers this week as “nothing like domestic terrorism.”
Bondi has pledged to impose serious consequences on those involved in the Tesla attack, including “people who are operating behind the scenes to coordinate and fund these crimes.”
On his part, Trump suggested on Friday that Tesla attackers should be sent to the infamous prison in El Salvador.
Domestic terrorism is defined in federal law, but it is not official criminal law that carries out specific penalties. Those arrested in the attack have so far been charged under other federal laws in considerable prisons.
Under federal law, conspiracy and malicious destruction each have a mandatory minimum of five years or more in prison and a 20-year statutory fine in federal prisons. The number of unregistered destructive devices will be punished by up to 10 years.
Former federal prosecutor Neema Ramani said it was possible to apply terrorist charges to the Tesla attacks, but it is not how terrorist charges have been filed in the past.
“Americans are not charged with terrorism because it can be difficult to get into the heads of criminal defendants and prove why they committed the violence. It’s much easier if they’re a member of a foreign terrorist organization or have pledged loyalty,” Rahmani said.
Showrooms aren’t the only ones in the alerts. The website Dogequest is said to have released personal information about Tesla owners across the United States, raising privacy and safety concerns for those who own electric vehicles. The website was then deleted.
Musk is blamed for attacks on his social media platforms X, X, Democrats and others.
“Didn’t there be such a level of coordinated violence against a peaceful company? I understand that I don’t want to buy the product, but this is extreme arson and destruction!” Musk wrote to X.
In San Diego, people in dark clothing and red bandanas around their faces sneaked into Tesla showrooms in Encinitas before 2am Monday, spray-painting eight vehicles with Swastika and blasphemously covering dealer windows. Christie Ramirez.
Ramirez said investigators had not arrested him.
Some dealers are tainted with Nazi symbols. This is an obvious response to the arm gestures Musk made while speaking at a rally to celebrate Trump’s inauguration in January. Musk denies that the gesture is a Nazi salute.
In Las Vegas, the FBI and Las Vegas metro police have launched an investigation this week after Vandals threw a Molotov cocktail and fired at least three rounds at the Tesla Cruising Center, just a few miles from the Vegas Strip at about 2:45am Tuesday, officials said.
Several Teslas were engulfed in flames and the word “resistance” was spray painted on the door building, Sheriff Dori Koren said. The 911 caller reported seeing someone wearing black clothing burning multiple electric vehicles.
At least five Tesla vehicles were damaged in the incident. For example, it includes two fires caught in, authorities said.
The FBI and the Alcohol Bureau, cigarettes, firearms and explosives are investigating a similar incident in Kansas City, where two cybertrucks were burning early Tuesday. Authorities say so far it has no connection to the Las Vegas attack.
Over the past few months, at least half a dozen similar vandalism has been happening at Tesla showrooms around the country.
On March 2nd, someone scrawled the words “no musk” of red spray paint on the windows of a Tesla dealer in Owings Mills, Maryland.
In Tiguard, Oregon, police are investigating after someone fired twice at a Tesla dealer in about a week. In the first incident that took place on March 6th, someone fired at least seven rounds. It caused damage to three cars and crushed the windows. Police say one bullet went through the office wall and entered a computer monitor.
“Fortunately, this happened overnight when the property was vacant,” authorities wrote in a news release.
In Seattle, four cyber trucks parked in Teslalot on March 9th, flareed.
In Lynwood, Washington, someone spray painted a cyber truck parked at a Tesla Center with red swastikas.
While much of the investigation remains ongoing, at least four people have been charged with allegedly destroying Tesla’s property.
Adam Matthew Lansky, 41, of Salem, Oregon, was charged by the federal government with illegally owning an unregistered destructive device after authorities were allegedly attempted to destroy Teslas at a local dealer with Molotov cocktails. Court records show that Lancesky also allegedly fired several rounds into the dealership building and vehicle.
In Loveland, Colorado, two people were arrested after an attack on Tesla dealers. Cooper Joe Frederick, 24, of Fort Collins, is charged with explosive second-degree arson, criminal mischief and attempted criminal felony after police said the agitator was lit, thrown into a Tesla building and landed between two vehicles.
Lucy Grace Nelson, 42, of Lyon, Colorado, was charged with the number of malicious destruction of property allegedly writing “Nazi” on dealer’s signatures, court records show, lighting the fire near a dealer’s cyber truck.
The 24-year-old Daniel Clark Pound of South Carolina was charged this month with arson that includes property used for interstate commerce after prosecutors allegedly sprayed “F-Trump” and “long-living Ukraine” in a parking lot used by people charging vehicles.
Authorities allege he pulled out five Molotov cocktails and threw them on the charger, causing damage to the device. Prosecutors say if convicted he will face up to 20 years in prison.
Apart from violence, peaceful protesters mobilized the country with Tesla dealers.
A group of women called the “Grandma Brigade” gathered outside the Tesla showroom and service center on Pullman Street in Costa Mesa this month opposed mask involvement in the federal government.
“Maybe when you get back economically, you can show that the US can’t buy from the rich for millions of dollars,” said Debbie Marsteller, one of the group’s members.
However, Marsteller was shocked by the vandalism.
“People have Nazi sws in Tesla cars… that’s ridiculous to me,” she said. “It doesn’t help our cause.”
