Elon Musk said the people who are vandalizing — and in some cases, blowing up — Tesla cars because they are upset with his support for President Trump and his leadership of DOGE need to “stop being psycho.”
Musk made the comment during an all-hands meeting for Tesla, the company he has run since 2008, late on Thursday night.
“If you read the news, it feels like, you know, armageddon,” Musk told the crowd of Tesla employees.”I can’t walk past the TV without seeing a Tesla on fire.”
“I understand if you don’t want to buy our product, but you don’t have to burn it down. That’s a bit unreasonable, you know. Like, this is psycho,” Musk added, while chuckling. “Stop being psycho, OK?”
The Tesla and SpaceX boss’ comment comes a few days after cars at a Las Vegas Tesla store were shot and torched with Molotov cocktails. A similar incident occurred in Colorado, where a woman was charged with setting Tesla cars on fire and writing “Nazi cars” on a store building in Feb.; another man was arrested by federal agents last week for setting fire to a Tesla charging station in South Carolina.
At the same time, a number of clips have gone viral in the past month, showing vandals defacing and keying Tesla cars in parking lots.
Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday announced those who attack Tesla vehicles will be treated as domestic terrorists. Bondi said attackers will face a minimum of 5 years in prison.
The recent wave of destruction comes after Musk backed President Trump, both financially and vocally on X, the platform he owns, during the 2024 election. That relationship has grown since Trump returned to office, with Musk spearheading DOGE, which has been on a cost-cutting spree within the federal government. Musk has said he is aiming to cut $1 trillion from the annual federal budget — or about 15% of what the U.S. spent last year — but the severity of the cuts have taken some by surprise.
Tesla’s stock has taken a beating this year as a result of the turmoil, dropping 37% since the start of 2025. That drop has made many of Musk’s critics, including ABC comedian Jimmy Kimmel and former Vice Presidential Candidate Tim Walz, happy in recent weeks. Tesla’s stock price was up 1.5% an hour into trading on Friday, with shares priced at $240.
