Cue Billy Ray Valentine

I am once again referencing what has turned out to be the most important quote of the 1983 comedy film Trading Places. 

I direct your attention to an essay by Hamilton Nolan where he suggests that the best way to take Musk down is to go after the source of his wealth.

Specifically, he notes that the bulk of Musk's wealth is in Tesla stock, and that company is very vulnerable:

Elon Musk, an impossibly wealthy, drug-addled Nazi sympathizer, is making drastic, devastating, unaccountable cuts to our federal government. He is making decisions of great global consequence based on nothing but his own demonstrably ignorant ideas. He is materially harming millions of people around the world. He seems to be operating outside of the law. He appears to have nothing holding back his worst impulses. The Republican Party has opened the door for him, the Democratic Party believes itself to be unable to stand in his way, and there is no indication that the courts will be able to roll back the damage he has already done. It is up to us.

As a regular person, it can seem impossible to plan and execute actions that would have a serious impact on the richest guy in America. Protesting and waving signs and calling your representatives are all things that you should do, but I know that they can often leave people feeling like their effort has not produced any real effects. You marched against the war and the war still happened. You marched against DOGE and they still defunded a bunch of cancer trials. Is any of this actually getting through to the well-insulated oligarchs?

Today, I want to point out that: Yes. There are very straightforward ways that regular people can organize and exercise leverage on Elon Musk. I will discuss one way here that you, yourself, can get involved with. The wealthier that someone gets, the more points of vulnerability their fortunes have.

What is the source of Elon Musk’s power? His wealth. There are lots of smart tech guys and there are lots of company founders and CEOs and political donors and as a group they exercise a fair amount of political influence, but the reason why this man in particular is swanning around DC doing whatever the hell he wants is that he is worth more than anyone else, and he spent more than anyone else to help get Trump elected. The way to get Elon Musk to pay attention is to target his wealth. I don’t think that he will ever be “not rich,” at least not until the revolution comes, but it is completely possible to bring about enormous losses in his net worth.

Short version is that Tesla has a price/earnings ratio of 166, as compared to P/E ratio for the plodding old economy Apple Computer, which has a P/E ratio of 39, to say nothing of the ratios of car manufacturers Toyota and GM (7).

Would YOU buy this car if you get this? Tesla still does not build cars well, its fit and finish issues of the Swasticars are notorious, and its approach to self-driving is arguably the worst of all of the major players in the field.

When juxtaposed with the plethora of competitors entering the market and the expiration of EV subsidies, it is clear that the car company is seriously over-valued. 

The source of this valuation is the goodwill accumulated by the assiduous marketing of Elon Musk by ……… Elon Musk, who has convinced many people that he is a visionary genius, and its insane valuation is based on, "A magical belief that Musk will make it the biggest automaker in the world.."

It's clear now that the emperor has no clothes, and there is now a concerted effort to show people this:

………

There is already a nascent protest campaign against Tesla. Its hashtag is #TeslaTakedown. It has a website. There have already been protests at Tesla dealerships across the country, and many more are planned. You can join them. In order for Tesla to make money they must attract buyers. Potential buyers can easily be turned off by having to pass protesters calling them Nazis when they go to browse for a new car. There are plenty of other cars to buy that will not get them yelled at. These things are a genuine factor in the minds of consumers.

Furthermore, we have all seen the reports of Tesla cybertrucks being defaced with swastikas or other graffiti implying that such vehicles could only be owned by Nazis. Some cybertruck owners have told reporters that they no longer want to own cybertrucks after these incidents. I would never condone illegal vandalism as a protest tactic. But as a keen observer of social trends, I observe that these types of actions often spread and become more frequent when large numbers of people view them as effective ways to achieve a goal. If owners of cybertrucks—or other Tesla products—come to find that they are frequently being made the targets of graffiti implying that they are supporting Nazis, I predict that consumer enthusiasm for purchasing Tesla products will decline. Do you really want to worry about your car being vandalized every day due to the political actions of the person who started the company? Why not just buy a different car, and save yourself that worry?

I should note here that I do not approve the current spate of vandalism, though I am profoundly amused by the current spate of vandalism.

I would note that there is a historical precedent of vandalism working, specifically with fur coats, which are now only rarely seen in high profile public events as a result of protesters throwing paint on their wearers.

The MAGAts out there are unlikely to buy Musk's Swasticars, they hate EVs, and there are other cheaper and better ways to drive an electric automobile these days that don't involve getting flipped off on the highway or having one's car vandalized.

Elon Musk is not going to take over the automobile industry, and protests, whether legal ones such as protests in front of dealerships, or more extreme measures will make that clear.