Graffiti found at Baltimore County Tesla dealership after protest sparks investigation
Graffiti was found Sunday at the Tesla dealership in Owings Mills, Baltimore County Police said a day after demonstrators gathered to protest Elon Musk, the automaker's billionaire CEO, and his push to cut government spending on behalf of President Donald Trump.
The graffiti said "No Musk" with a sign that resembles a swastika. Musk's stiff-armed salute at a Trump rally has opened him up to accusations of Nazism, but he has denied it.
Police believe that symbol was an "X" inside of a circle, which they assume is for the social media platform that Musk owns.
Police said the vandalism will be investigated as a destruction of property and will remain open. The dealership was closed on Sunday.
Telsa protests
Nearly 300 demonstrators gathered outside the Tesla dealership in Owings Mills on Saturday, displaying homemade signs as drivers passed by beeping their horns in a show of support, as part of a nationwide protest outside Tesla stores.
Baltimore resident James Power, 64, was among the hundreds who showed up for the "Tesla Takedown" protest in Owings Mills.
"To be honest, I just saw something on a website, and it wasn't even a political website, about a Tesla protest. And I felt like, we can go to protests, we can march, we can do all kinds of stuff, but I felt like this one was a little bit different in that it could have a potential to have a financial impact," Power told The Baltimore Banner.
The demonstrations are part of a growing backlash to Musk's disruptive role in Washington.
Tesla, DOGE criticism
This weekend's protests against Musk's role in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) were part of the "Tesla Takedown," which encourages stakeholders to "sell your Teslas, dump your stock, join the picket lines," according to its website.
Musk was appointed by President Trump to lead DOGE, which has drawn criticism and protests over mass layoffs and offering buyouts to federal employees.
According to CBS News, since President Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration, Tesla's stock has dropped 17% due to the "visible perceived downside impact" of Musk's involvement with the White House, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives wrote in a Feb. 19 research note.
More than half of Americans held a negative view of Musk, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted between Jan. 27 and Feb. 2, CBS News reports.
