President Donald Trump — who often railed against electric vehicles on the campaign trail, arguing they “cost too much and they don’t go far” — shouted “I love Tesla” from the White House lawn on Tuesday as he stood surrounded by various vehicles from the electric car maker.

But his critics believe the turnaround has less to do with his stance on electric vehicles and more to do with the Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and Trump’s ever-present head of the U.S. DOGE Service, or Department of Government Efficiency, which is cutting federal jobs by the thousands. 

And now there is backlash.

Tesla vehicles were set on fire at a car dealer in Seattle. A fire broke out at a Tesla charging station in Littleton, Massachusetts after police say vandals targeted the center. And someone was caught on camera throwing a Molotov cocktail at a Tesla showroom in Salem, Oregon. On Thursday, gunshots were fired for the second time this month at a Tesla dealership in Tigard, Oregon, just outside of Portland. 

Protests have broken out at Tesla showroom’s across the country, including in New York City, where a glass door is now shattered after a protest earlier in the month.

Trump has suggested anyone vandalizing Tesla property should be prosecuted as a domestic terrorist, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said congress would investigate.

Jennifer Trebb, an Ohio woman, bought her Tesla in 2023, recalling this week that she thought it was “innovative,” “different,” and “kind of cool.” But after a recent incident in a grocery store parking lot, she realized she could no longer own in it.

“Somebody pulled up behind me, rolled the window down and said, ‘Hey, Nazi.. you Nazi A-hole and then drove off, and I was in shock,” Trebb told Spectrum News, recalling her final straw moment.

After the election, Trebb would only drive the car with a sticker on her bumper that read, “I bought this before Elon went crazy.”

When she bought the car in 2023, she said she saw Musk as just a “quirky, eccentric billionaire.” Her opinion changed in January on Inauguration Day when Musk made a gesture that many saw as a Nazi salute.

“The Nazi salute,” Trebb said. “I know he says it wasn’t, but I know what I saw that day.”

Musk has said the accusations about a Nazi salute were nothing more than Democratic “dirty tricks.”

Nonetheless, Trebb was done with Tesla.

“I couldn’t sleep at night knowing that I was going to be driving that vehicle every day, day in, day out,” she said. “It just represented something to me that goes against my grain.”

Last month, she sold her Tesla, taking an $18,000 loss.

“This is the point that we’re at in our country, that a car is making such a... vast political statement.”

She’s not alone: Tesla stock was down 50% since December, and in one day alone Musk’s net worth dropped $29 billion.

Sales of Teslas around the world have plummeted. In Europe, for example, Tesla sold just over 7,000 vehicles in January — half of what it sold the same month last year.

“Any time that you lose $29 billion in one day, one could call that a slump,” Ted Jenkin, a financial expert with Exit Wealth, told Spectrum News.

But Jenkin says the brand that is Elon Musk could easily weather this storm, since his empire extends well beyond electric vehicles. Despite a recent failed rocket launch, Jenkin says, Space-X is still seen as leading the way in terms of space travel, and, he adds, Musk’s Neuralink is working on technology with the aim of dramatically improving the lives of people living with neurological and spinal conditions.  

But, Jenkin says, there’s a caveat: “the longer that he’s hitched to the Trump administration — and if the Trump administration does poorly — that could hurt his brand over the long term.”