Other ‘Tesla Takedown’ protests against Musk and DOGE were held Saturday at various Tesla facilities nationwide.
PORTLAND, Ore. — Demonstrators held a “Tesla Takedown” protest outside of a Portland dealership, echoing similar protests throughout the nation.
On Saturday, demonstrators outside the South Macadam location told KGW that they want to bring attention to Elon Musk’s actions within the federal government as part of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
Climate organizer Brian Ettling shared that he worked at Tesla eight years ago, and said though he’s a fan of electric vehicles, he’s a bigger fan of democracy.
“If we don’t have a democracy, we won’t be able to solve common problems like climate change and everything else we care about,” he said.
Other protests against Musk and DOGE were held Saturday at various Tesla facilities across the country, including Boston; Austin; Washington, D.C.; and Arlington, Texas. Said “Tesla Takedown” protests also call for Tesla owners to “Sell your Teslas, dump your stock (and) join the picket lines.”
This comes after Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts led a push for the inspector general office’s inquiry at the Treasury. The audit will review the security controls for the federal government’s payment system, as well as the past two years of the system’s transactions. The Musk team has pushed for access to the government’s computer systems and sought to remove tens of thousands of federal workers, including thousands of probationary workers from the IRS in the middle of tax season.
RELATED: Elon Musk’s DOGE access to Treasury records halted by federal judge after multi-state lawsuit
Attorneys general from 14 states, including Oregon, also challenged Musk’s authority to access sensitive government data and exercise “virtually unchecked power” in a lawsuit filed Thursday.
“The only way we have of fighting back against this is coming out and speaking out about it … but also letting everyone know that Tesla stock is the foundation of (Musk’s) wealth,” demonstrator Edward Neidermeyer said Saturday. “If we can stop (and) boycott the sale of Tesla cars, if people sell Tesla stock, we can get rid of this guy.”
The Associated Press contributed to the reporting of this story.