The DOJ's empty attacks on vandalism at Tesla facilities

The White House, the Justice Department and the GOP have no moral authority in talking about political violence after condoning January 6th and pardoning the terrorists.

As Elon Musk rummages through our Social Security information and engages in mass firings while purging agencies, the Tesla brand is being destroyed, as sales and stocks plummet. And I’m here for it.

Glad to see protests in recent weeks—peaceful protests at which some people engage in non-violent civil disobedience—all over the country. On March 29th, organizers are calling for 500 demonstrations at all 277 Tesla showrooms, the biggest mass protest so far among the Tesla Takedown demonstrators.

Then there’s the vandalism at Tesla dealerships, Tesla facilities and even against Tesla vehicles on the streets. Individuals have not been targeted with violence at any of the targeted facilities, such as in Las Vegas this week, where cars were set ablaze in the early hours of the morning; only property has been vandalized. Still, I don’t like the idea of Molotov cocktails being thrown around. The people doing so know that it’s a crime, and that if caught, they will be punished. And they’re clearly willing to take that risk.

This is the kind of activity that has taken place during other protest movements in history, and we should be clear that it is independent from the peaceful protesters working for change.

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But, as government has done in the past, Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Department of Justice—as well as Donald Trump, Elon Musk and the GOP—not only are trying to conflate the violent attacks on the dealerships with the protests and even with the Democratic opposition; they’re railing against the vandalism as “domestic terrorism.” But in this case, more than any time in history, they have had absolutely no moral authority in deciding what is domestic terrorism.

Not when they organized a massive act of domestic terrorism against our country, inspiring the “Stop the Steal” rally-goers to storm the Capitol on January 6th. Not when they dismissed the terrible acts of vandalism against the building. Not when they were okay with violence enacted against police officers. Not when they were fine with death threats against the Vice President and House Speaker.

And surely not after Trump pardoned all the violent criminals and attackers of police officers—setting them free, over 1500 criminals—and just about the entire GOP was okay with that.

But now Trump and Musk and Bondi are shocked—shocked!—that Tesla dealerships are being vandalized.

“The swarm of violent attacks on Tesla property is nothing short of domestic terrorism,” Bondi said in the statement. “We will continue investigations that impose severe consequences on those involved in these attacks, including those operating behind the scenes, to coordinate and fund these crimes.”

Note the implication of some sort of coordination “behind the scenes.” Musk himself, with no evidence, implicated “the Democrats” in this, something about which there is no evidence of any kind. Trump, too, called it domestic terrorism and said the perpetrators will “go through hell.”

But all of their bluster is exceedingly empty, as the GOP gave up any right to tell us about violence or domestic terrorism, as this clip from CNN that went viral on social media expertly shows. Former Biden administration official Neera Tanden responds to CNN’s regular MAGA maniac Scott Jennings, who says whoever engaged in these acts of vandalism “should be put in jail and left there for a very long time.”

Jennings just snapped completely—lots of alpha man rage—after Tanden said, “So when they do it to a Tesla dealership, it's really bad. But when they do it to the halls of Congress, we should pardon them. Is that your position?”

That hit a nerve—exquisitely—because these people know they have no moral authority on this, simply because lawlessness is now their brand. This is yet another danger exposed in having allowed Trump to get away with committing crimes. If he can get away with serious criminal actions—all on behalf of himself and no one else—more people might think it’s okay to commit crimes in the name of a higher cause, particularly if it’s limited to destruction of property.

And if violence against police officers is dismissed by the president himself, few people are going to have sympathy with the billionaire buddy of the president who’s tearing apart our agencies—and gaining access to our personal information—while the property associated with his businesses is being vandalized.

That’s not to condone it. In fact, the last thing we want to see is right-wingers engage in attacks on companies they perceive as associated with the Democrats, nor do we want to to see any acts of right-wing terrorism, which we’ve been warned about by the FBI during the last year of the Biden administration. It’s simply to point out that it’s not a surprise that this is escalating after Trump and the GOP have embraced lawlessness, and that their cries of “domestic terrorism” ring hollow because of their own actions.