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Protesters decry Musk's firings of thousands of federal

workers

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Marching at dealerships, they seek to make Tesla a 'toxic

brand'

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Owner trying to sell used Tesla hit with 'Swasticar' tags

By Helen Coster

NEW YORK, March 6 (Reuters) - Chanting "Elon Musk has

got to go" into a pink bullhorn, Carolanne Fry led about 350

demonstrators in a noisy march outside a Tesla electric vehicle

dealership in Portland, Oregon, this week.

Fry, 38, a public employee and registered Democrat, is among

hundreds of organizers in an emerging grassroots movement to

protest Musk's role in sweeping cuts to the federal workforce at

the behest of President Donald Trump.

The target of their so-called "Tesla Takedown" protests is

the brand at the heart of the business empire controlled by

Musk, Tesla's chief executive. "Take action at Tesla showrooms

everywhere. Sell your Teslas, dump your stock, join the picket

lines," its website urges.

"We need to make Tesla a toxic brand," said Fry, who has

called on her state's retirement system to divest its Tesla

stock. "Every economic angle that we can attack Elon is for the

best."

The protests are still relatively small-scale but also

significant as one of the first signs of activism in early weeks

of the second Trump administration. Some Democratic voters have

complained about an ineffectual response from party leaders to

dramatic cutbacks Musk and Trump have made at federal agencies.

In addition to overseeing the firing of thousands of federal

workers, Musk has orchestrated the cancellation of contracts at

the U.S. Agency for International Development, which funds

humanitarian programs around the world.

The share of Americans who give Trump positive marks overall

remained steady at 44%, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos

survey.

Through his leadership of the so-called Department of

Government Efficiency, or DOGE, Musk and his team have gained

access to some agency systems. Critics decry this as overreach

by an unelected individual, and worry about possible conflicts

of interest if Musk uses his post to try steering lucrative

contracts to his own companies. Musk's supporters say he needs

to be aggressive to overhaul a bloated federal government.

As of December, Musk owned a 12.8% share of Tesla's

outstanding stock, worth about $114.7 billion at Wednesday's

closing stock price.

The world's richest man also owns the X social media

platform, the space exploration company SpaceX and brain implant

company Neuralink, among others.

Tesla's sleek, innovative electric vehicles have long been

beloved by liberal-minded Americans as an environmentally

friendly alternative to gasoline-powered cars. But for some, the

brand has morphed into a symbol of Trump's aggressive remaking

of U.S. domestic and foreign policy, making Tesla a natural

target of the incipient protest movement.

"The idea is to tarnish the Tesla brand, bring down the

stock price of Tesla and have a real impact on Musk's

pocketbook," said Carlo Voli, 59, an interpreter in Washington

state who has organized six protests at Tesla dealerships in the

Seattle area. "It's something ordinary people can do."

Musk did not respond to a Reuters request for comment about

the protests, nor did a representative for Tesla.

An anti-Tesla campaign is also underway on platforms such as

Instagram and X under the hashtags #teslatakedown and

#swasticars - a nod to a hand gesture made by Musk that drew

scrutiny for its similarity to the Nazi salute. Musk has

dismissed criticism of his hand gesture as a "tired attack."

Some Tesla drivers are facing the ire of anti-Musk strangers,

even as they prepare to sell their vehicles. Rainer Eckert, a

69-year-old forensic engineer in Wallingford, Washington, who

voted for Democrat Kamala Harris, is planning to sell his

six-year-old Tesla and donate proceeds to charity.

Until then, he has affixed a "Bought Before We All Knew He

Was a Jerk" sticker on the car - which he says has not deterred

a stranger from taping a "Nazi car" sign to it, as frequently as

three times a day.

ACTION VERSUS RESTRAINT

Other DOGE-related protest efforts are starting to gather

steam. On March 1, thousands of people gathered at national

parks across the country to protest the Trump administration's

firing of 1,000 full-time National Park Service staff. Two days

later, more than 1,000 protesters gathered outside a National

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) building in

Boulder, Colorado, decrying Trump administration layoffs at the

agency.

At least one high-profile Democrat is urging restraint.

In a New York Times column, political strategist James Carville

called for "the most daring political maneuver in the history of

our party: roll over and play dead."

It is difficult to determine how much Musk's political

activities are factoring into Tesla's vehicle sales, which last

year declined on an annual basis for the first time.

Analysts pointed to other factors in the global EV market,

including increased competition from Chinese brands and legacy

automakers such as General Motors ( GM ).

Still, a growing body of polling evidence suggests that

Musk's vocal role in politics is alienating potential customers.

A poll conducted after the November election for the

advocacy group EV Politics Project showed that far more voters

who supported Harris had an unfavorable opinion of Tesla

compared to those who supported Trump. Among Harris voters, 59%

said they had an unfavorable opinion of Tesla, compared to 36%

of Trump voters surveyed.