Stung by people power protests, Elon Musk targets my group and a close friend
Standing up with courage in the face of fear
A week ago Saturday Co-President Elon Musk took to his X platform to call out several groups staging protests against his Tesla dealerships for Musk’s Trump Administration role in slashing vital federal government functions. The Tesla Takedown movement has mounted hundreds of peaceful actions around the world. Among the groups he named were the Troublemakers, falsely claiming it is funded by ActBlue. The group has been staging protests at dealerships throughout the Seattle area, a major Tesla market, and had a key role in putting up the decentralized movement’s website, where people around the world can post upcoming actions.
I am a member of the Troublemakers, a Seattle-based group dedicated to nonviolent direct action, and was a part of our first action, one focused on forest preservation. “So Elon’s making us famous,” I thought, grimly amused but aware that being targeted in such a way could lead to consequences.
That happened quickly. The next day Musk took it to a new level, targeting Valerie Costa, a close friend and colleague with whom I have worked for years, first at 350 Seattle, and now at Troublemakers. “Costa is committing crimes,” he charged. Musk has a record of playing fast and loose with the facts, and this was another of his many lies. There have been incidents of vandalism against Tesla cars and dealerships. But Troublemakers is a strictly nonviolent group and does not endorse such actions.
The other day, Val told her story in The Guardian in a story entitled, “Elon Musk targeted me over Tesla protests. That proves our movement is working.” I’ll let Val take it from here:
“As a longtime local activist and organizer in Seattle, I’m accustomed to some conflict with powerful forces. The intention of the Tesla Takedown movement is to make a strong public stand against the tech oligarchy behind the Trump administration’s cruel and illegal actions, and to encourage Americans to sell their Teslas and dump the company’s stock. Protests like these – peaceful, locally organized, and spreading across the world – are at the heart of free speech in a democracy and a cornerstone of US political traditions. So it’s telling that the response from so-called ‘free speech absolutist’ Musk has been to single out individuals – and spread lies about us and our movement. The harassment that has followed his post has been frightening.
“It’s also proof that the Tesla Takedown campaign is working.”
Indeed, Tesla stock and sales are tanking. As of today the stock is a little under $240, half of what it was in the euphoria immediately after the election. J.P Morgan projects it to go down by half again, to $120. Meanwhile, Morgan auto analyst Ryan Brinkman last Wednesday cut his first quarter global sales estimate to 355,000, down from 440,000, and a deep plummet from 495,000 in 2024’s fourth quarter.
Clearly connecting those declines to Musk’s work with Trump and connections with Europe’s far right, Brinkman said, “We struggle to thing of anything analogous in the history of the automotive industry, in which a brand has lost so much value so quickly.”
Continuing to tell her story, Val wrote, “I am not the leader of Tesla Takedown. In fact, no one is.
“Here is the truth: Tesla Takedown is a completely decentralized movement with hundreds of protests taking place around the globe, drawing many thousands of people out of their homes and onto the public sidewalks to stand up for programs that support poor people, older people, veterans, the sick. Out of care and concern for others – a foreign concept to those currently in power – people are offering what they can to help. I’ve offered to schlep supplies, and helped someone find a bullhorn. The environmentally focused Seattle organization I’m a part of, Troublemakers, hosts a map where other people and groups can post the locations of forthcoming demonstrations. Troublemakers has about $3,500 in its bank accounts. All of this is a bare-bones, low-budget, people-powered movement – which is exactly why Musk is afraid of it, and casting about to find a villain.”
Val then hit the crux of the issue.
“If we can’t show our opposition to what the government is doing, we are living in a dictatorship. If we are criminalized for calling out the rich and powerful for their illegal actions, that is a dictatorship. I don’t want to live in a dictatorship.
“Make no mistake, it’s scary to be personally called out by the richest man in the world on the platform he owns. It’s scary to be targeted by a seemingly endless number of his devoted trolls and bots. To be doxxed, to have one’s life pored over and exposed, to be smeared, attacked and falsely accused. It’s scarier still when the FBI director gets tagged into the threads and asked to investigate. But I’m not backing down – and even if I did, it wouldn’t make a dent in this movement. Hundreds if not thousands of people have participated in the ways that I have.
“The truth is, the people are powerful. I’ve always believed that. And now we know that Elon Musk does too.”
Val also told her story on Democracy Now.
Val Costa has acknowledged how terrifying it is to be targeted by the world’s richest man (though he may be knocked off that perch soon). But, no surprise to me, she has continued to stand and speak out with courage. Val has been on many direct action frontlines, and is deeply committed to environmental and social justice in all its forms. Knowing Val, Musk’s attack has only made her more pissed off than she was before. Bravo Val!
We who work in movements have known the second Trump Administration would bring an elevated level of uncertainty and risk. But that isn’t stopping us. As Franklin Roosevelt said, “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.” With so much at stake now, there are obviously many things more important than fear. Relatedly, Nelson Mandela said, “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.” Valerie Costa is setting an example of triumph for all of us. One which we will need in coming years as we fight for what is dear to us against oligarchic monstrosities like Elon Musk.
The idea behind Musk's attack strategy is the blunt the point of the spear. Make an example, whatever it takes, of the leadership of any opposition. Thanks to all Troublemakers, especially Valerie , who I also heard on NPR. Standing proudly forward pushes the point deeper, but more importantly, inspire others.
The idea of a decentralized movement is the most viable way forward. It leaves much room for evolving and creating new and expanding waves of action. As this administration moves ahead with ever more ruthless and indiscriminate destruction, the ranks of those who have personal grievances will grow exponentially, and they will not all be from the liberal side. As the base erodes the rest will crumble.
Of course, this is meaningful only in the conflicts among humans. The true balancing of accounts is only beginning, and no human will have a say in that.
Thank you, Patrick and Val, for putting yourselves on the line, speaking out, sharing...and having courage which we must all have at this time. The People United cannot be brought down, that is much more important than fear. You are both great role models.