An estimated 300 people participated in a demonstration on the public sidewalk in front of a Tesla dealership in Mount Kisco on Feb. 22, part of a growing number of demonstrations staged at Tesla dealerships across the U.S. against Elon Musk and Donald Trump.
Musk and his team of computer people have gained entry to systems at the Treasury Department, Social Security, Internal Revenue Service and other government departments. They have accessed personal, sensitive data on U.S. citizens and companies, including Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, tax returns, and medical records. At the behest of Trump, they have been at the forefront of firing federal workers and shutting down federal government operations.
Musk has been the CEO of Tesla since 2008 and many people think of him as being synonymous with Tesla Motors, which was founded in 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. An estimated one-third of Musk’s fortune consists of Tesla stock.
Because of the association of Musk and Tesla, protestors against the dismantling of the federal government currently underway by Musk and President Donald Trump have used Tesla dealerships as a background for some of their demonstrations. Rolling Stone reported that Tesla dealerships in about 100 U.S. cities have been the locations for demonstrations.
Many of the demonstrations have been organized using the internet as a communications tool. For example, Indivisible Putnam Progressives was among the groups to announce online the sidewalk demonstration at the Tesla showroom at 115 Kisco Ave., in Mount Kisco from 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 22.
The group’s internet post urged people to bring signs and their voices.
Francesca Hagadus, who is a former member of the Mount Pleasant Town Board and is current vice chair of the Mount Pleasant Democratic Committee, attended the demonstration in Mount Kisco and told the Business Journal, “This was about Elon Musk. Elon Musk was not elected by us. He is overstepping his bounds. He’s not even a paid consultant.”
She said that the signs carried by demonstrators were homemade and that the demonstrators received a lot of support and encouragement from motorists who were driving by.
“There would be an occasional Trumper who yelled something at us but everybody else was beeping their horns and giving a thumbs up,” Hagadus said. “There was a Trump car that went by that had Trump slogans painted on the side. We were not protesting a private dealership. What we were protesting is in the hope that people will recognize the symbolism of Tesla and Elon Musk.”
Hagadus said that although some people feel angry and powerless right now, there still are things they can do including calling their elected representatives’ offices and leaving messages with staffers.
Hagadus noted that some people in the crowd at the Tesla dealership said this was the third demonstration they had been at during the week, including one at the federal courthouse in White Plains and another outside of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office in Peekskill.
