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Tesla is continuing to face record numbers of protests and, at times, vandalistic acts at dealerships around the country in response to Elon Musk’s government-gutting DOGE efforts as he heads the agency. The electric automotive giant saw itself trending on X, also owned by Musk, with observers taking note of a recent recall of Tesla Cybertrucks and reports of $1.4 billion going missing.
As seen on CNBC, Tesla is moving to recall over 46,000 Cybertrucks because of a faulty exterior trim panel that has the potential to detach while driving, prompting valid safety concerns. The outlet adds that the recall is for a part on the truck known as a cant rail and all trucks manufactured between November 2023 and February 2025, as the company confirmed in a filing to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration this past Tuesday (March 18). The company says that if owners are in possession made in that time frame can take the vehicle to a service department to have the cant rail replaced free of charge.
This recall comes as a new report from the Financial Times notes that $1.4 billion in funds have seemingly disappeared, and the timing couldn’t be worse for Tesla as stock prices continue to sink while Musk spends much of his time heading DOGE and ordering unpopular cuts and firing to essential government services in a bid to halt fraud and waste. Further, global protests against the brand have marred its image as a leader in the EV space with other companies making gains as the market landscape shifts in other directions.
On X, formerly Twitter, there are reactions to Tesla’s stock numbers, the missing funds, and the decrying of vandalism and protests. We’ve got those listed below.
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Photo: Getty
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Source: picture alliance / Getty
The resentment against Elon Musk and Tesla continues to increase. Arsonists have set fire to the vehicles in both Las Vegas and Kansas City.
As spotted on The Verge, Tesla facilities are now being targeted as part of protests against its polarizing CEO. On Tuesday (March 18), an unidentified individual wearing all black threw several Molotov cocktails at Tesla cars at a Tesla collision center in Las Vegas. Each of the automobiles immediately caught fire prompting local first responder teams to arrive on the scene. Thankfully, the fire department was able to extinguish the fire before any of the batteries exploded. According to The Las Vegas Review-Journal, bullet casings were also found as well as graffiti that read “RESIST.”
A similar incident occurred in Kansas City where someone set fire to a Cybertruck in a Tesla parking lot. A local police officer responded and attempted to put the fire out with an extinguisher but was unable to. Soon, the fire spread to another vehicle parked next to the Cybertruck. Kansas City Police Captain Jacob Becchina says that the “circumstances are under investigation, but preliminarily, the fire is being investigated for the potential of being an Arson.”
As expected these incidents are not being taken lightly by the United States government. Attorney General Pamela Bondi released a statement calling both acts “nothing short of domestic terrorism.” She added that the Department of Justice would “continue investigations that impose severe consequences on those involved in these attacks, including those operating behind the scenes to coordinate and fund these crimes.”
Elon Musk commented on the matter saying these are terrorist attacks. He doubled down adding that Tesla “just makes electric cars and has done nothing to deserve these evil attacks.”
You can see footage of the fires below.
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Source: Andrew Harnik / Getty / Donald Trump
Are y’all tired of all the winning yet? As the stockmarket continued to tank, Donald Trump and the proxy POTUS, Elon Musk took the White House lawn to sell Tesla vehicles and it was an absolute sh*t show.
Donald Trump is an absolute embarrassment, and girfter that has no shame. The so-called President of The United States decided to help his MAGA benefactor, Elon Musk, whose companies have taken a hit after hitching his battery-powered wagon to the MAGA express, which is one stop straight to recession hell.
During the disastrous pitch, which many believe violated the Hatch Act, Trump was reduced to a car salesman—a terrible one at that.
Photographers who were at the corrupt commercial caught Trump orange-handed reading from a literal sales pitch full of talking points about Musk’s crappy electric vehicles.
On the note, you can see talking points like “Tesla Pricing” for the different vehicles and the “Full Self Driving” feature, as well as noting that the vehicles “can be purchased as low as $299/month or “$35k.”
Bruh.
Trump’s apparent lifeline to Tesla came after the stock market nosedived in response to his stupid tariffs and boycotts held around the globe at Tesla dealerships in response to Musk’s affiliation with Trump and ruining people’s lives as a result of the massive layoffs conducted by DOGE.
Donald Trump & Elon Musk Get Clowned On X
X, formerly Twitter, has been trolling Trump, who overnight became a fan of electric vehicles after being one of their staunchest critics.
“I don’t know how one can be an American citizen and not be deeply embarrassed by this. The leader of the free world reduced to reading ad copy for a car salesman,” a post on X read.
Even Whoopi Goldberg and The View got in on the act, calling Trump a used car salesman and creating a jingle.
https://x.com/DEADLINE/status/1899857122281804220
The corruption is very loud with this administration. We don’t want to hear a peep out of the GOP about Biden or Hillary Clinton ever again. You can see more reactions in the gallery below.
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Source: Pacific Press / Getty / Tesla / Elon Musk / Donald Trump
Donald Trump and his MAGA cult are now all-in on electric cars, specifically, Elon Musk’s crappy Tesla vehicles after the company’s stock continues to take a hit, and sales stall due to him Musk hitching his wagon to the Trump train and being a douche.
Orange Mussolini and his loyal supporters are vowing to buy the once popular, but extremely poorly designed electric car in response to protests of the EV company across the nation in response to Musk’s DOGE ruining federal workers’ lives following unjust mass layoffs in the name of reducing government spending.
Taking to his favorite megaphone, Truth Social, Trump announced he will purchase a Tesla vehicle to show confidence in Musk and his company while incorrectly calling boycotts of Tesla illegal.
Per CNBC:
“I’m going to buy a brand new Tesla tomorrow morning as a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk, a truly great American,” Trump wrote in a post published early Tuesday morning on Truth Social.
Trump said “radical left lunatics” are “illegally and collusively” boycotting Tesla, which the president described as one of the best automakers in the world. This action, Trump said, was meant as an attack on Musk and what he stands for.
https://x.com/atrupar/status/1899520772139372904
For those who believe everything Trump says, boycotting companies is not illegal. In 1982, the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment protects American citizens’ rights to protest private businesses.
Elon Musk’s Businesses Are Suffering Globally
Source: ELSA BIYICK / Getty
Anyway, in a recent interview, Musk himself acknowledged that the self-inflicted harm to his businesses was leading to him running them “with great difficulty.” This wouldn’t have been the case if he hadn’t gotten into politics, specifically giving Donald Trump ridiculous amounts of money to ensure his return to the White House.
https://x.com/MirageWL8/status/1898870276315927032
Musk rallied against the people who were buying his vehicles, opting to side with the folks who clowned his cars in the first place because electric vehicles can compare to good old fashioned gasoline-powered cars that ruin the environment and cause climate change that they they constantly deem a hoax, even thought they have seen their houses burn down or be washed away in unprecedented natural disasters.
MAGA Republicans Love Tesla Electric Vehicles All of A Sudden
Now, as we are in the upside down, in an attempt to “own the libs,” following Cheeto Jesus’ footsteps, they are claiming they are getting Teslas to help Musk out and stand with him as he loses billions.
https://x.com/rolandsmartin/status/1899505153239101713
Bruh, the stupidity mixed with hypocrisy is off the chains.
You can see more reactions in the gallery below.
Music streaming company LiveOne saw its revenue drop 6% to $29.4 million in its fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, the company announced Thursday (Feb. 13). Revenue in the audio division fell 1% to $27.1 million. The drop led LiveOne’s operating loss to widen to $5.1 million from $800,000 in the prior-year period.
In the nine-month period, LiveOne’s revenue of $95.1 million was up 8.7% from the prior-year period. Operating loss in the period more than doubled, however, to $7.3 million from $3.5 million.
LiveOne, which has both a Slacker-branded music streaming service and numerous business-to-business relationships, ended the quarter with 800,000 Tesla “subscribers” — 475,000 of which are ad-supported. The company used to have preferred status with Tesla, powering the in-auto music streaming app that was free to Tesla owners, but that relationship changed in 2024. Now, LiveOne is no longer free to Tesla owners, although the electric vehicle manufacturer will continue to pay grandfathered LiveOne accounts in perpetuity.
Trending on Billboard
Now, LiveOne sells discounted packages to Tesla owners. “The conversion opportunity has enormous upside by offering Tesla owners an opportunity to upgrade and have access on all devices at discounted priority pricing,” LiveOne CEO Robert Ellin said in a statement in October. “We’ll drive growth, unlock new revenue streams, own our data, and increase ARPU [average revenue per user].”
But the third-quarter decline caused LiveOne to lower its expectations for the full year. While announcing earnings, the company updated its guidance for full-year revenue and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. LiveOne now expects revenue for the full fiscal year ending March 31 to be $112 million to $120 million, down from $120 million to $135 million. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be $6 million to $10 million compared to previous guidance of $8 million to $15 million.
The revised guidance caused LiveOne shares to fall 18.6% to $0.96 on Thursday. That put LiveOne’s share price 55% below its 52-week high of $2.15.
On Wednesday (Feb. 12), PodcastOne –which LiveOne spun off in 2023 while retaining approximately 72% of its outstanding shares — announced that quarterly revenue increased 22% to $12.7 million and net loss narrowed to $1.6 million from $2.6 million.
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President Donald Trump’s administration is reportedly set to strike a deal with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to the tune of $400 million. President Trump is putting a fleet of armored Tesla Cybertrucks on order, prompting many online to call out the hypocrisy of DOGE and the White House.
As spotted on Drop Site, it appears that the State Department, now headed by Marco Rubio, was in line to receive the fleet of armored Tesla Cybertrucks with a value of $400 million and is slated to take place in the fourth quarter of the year for a period of five years. The outlet notes that the forecasted purchase was modified on Dec. 13 of last year, ahead of when Trump was officially sworn in last month.
Drop Site added that the plan was set in motion by President Joe Biden’s administration, with the aim of transforming the Bureau of Diplomatic Security’s fleet of over 3,000 armored vehicles into all-electric, zero-emission vehicles by 2035.
After reports of the deal went wide, including outlets such as MSBNC and NPR, speculation pointed to the Cybertruck as the vehicle of choice after the word “Tesla” was seen in the State Department document. However, that word was removed Wednesday evening, prompting some to think that there is trickery afoot.
Elon Musk is currently spearheading the Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE, which has aimed efforts to cut government overspending. Critics of Musk and DOGE have aimed their concerns about the raging conflict of interest should Musk’s company retain the contract despite his pledge to cut the country’s deficit by trillions.
Cybertruck owners have recently been the target of vandalism and ridicule after Musk’s public alignment with Trump. Some owners are saying they’re being targeted while viral clips online show the vehicle marked with insults and taking surface damage.
On X, the reaction to the reports that Tesla could potentially earn $400 in government contracts for a fleet of decked-out Cybertrucks has garnered some passionate responses. We’ve got those listed below.
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Photo: Getty
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Source: James D. Morgan / Getty
What does it say about a person that attaching their name to a product instantly increases the likelihood that the product’s value and saleability will plummet?
Apparently, this is a question for Elon Musk.
Not only has the platform formerly known as Twitter done virtually nothing but tank in every possible sense of the word since Phony Stark took the reins, but a recent study has shown potential Tesla buyers are shopping elsewhere for their automotive needs ever since Musk outed himself as an enthusiastic MAGA cultist who wears Donald Trump’s hind parts as a hat.
According to a new study published by Clean Technica, an independent journalism site focused on green and clean energy, researchers for JW Surety Bonds found that approximately 1 in 4 Americans “avoid Tesla’s technology due to their opinions on Elon Musk.”
Imagine that: Tesla’s latest innovation, the Cybertruck, is an $80,000 vehicle (that’s the low-end price tag) that has been rife with malfunctions and subsequent recalls and looks like it was designed by Homer Simpson for children who still participate in soap boxcar racing — but that might not be why a consumer won’t buy it. Basically, a company could be selling an authentic spaceship for cheap and folks still might not shell out a dime for it because Musk’s name is on it. That’s a damn shame, especially for a CEO who is supposedly a tech genius. (I mean, we all know Elon is a tech pro like Ronald McDonald is a fry cook, but still.)
The only thing particularly surprising about the results of JW’s study is that it’s not young people who are likely to reject a product attached to Musk, it’s also the older generations that Trump has relied on for votes.
From Clean Technica:
Perhaps surprisingly when you consider values and norms they are known for, but perhaps unsurprisingly when you consider how popular Tesla has gotten among young people, the age group most likely to avoid Tesla technology due to Elon Musk is Baby Boomers (people born people 1946 and 1964). Despite stereotypes, though, Baby Boomers came of age in the massive cultural change era of the 1960s and 1970s. They were extremely involved in busting up conservative and closed-minded cultural norms and charting a new course forward for American culture and the world. So, it’s also not that surprising that many in the generation are offended by the strong push to “go backward” and be more closed minded and deeply traditional again. That generation also appreciates more the efforts required to change society, and are more aware of what life was like before those changes.
Tesla sales declined in 2024 compared to 2023. It was the first annual decline for the company since the Model S was launched in 2012. There are many reasons for that, but Tesla definitely took a sales hit in the key market of California, as well as elsewhere, because of Elon Musk’s more and more involved and more and more extreme political engagement. There was already strong research on that as well as a wicked drop in Tesla sales in California. However, the situation surely grew as the year went on and reached new heights in November when Donald Trump was elected president instead of Kamala Harris and Elon Musk was by Trump’s side along the way, during Thanksgiving, during Christmas, and on New Year’s Eve.
It’s almost as if no one really benefits from being a Trump supporter besides the orange man himself. (Just ask Rudy Giuliani.)
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Source: NurPhoto / Getty / Tesla
Elon Musk has proudly hitched his electric wagon to the Trump train, but could that spell the end for his EV dominance? Recent financial numbers hint at some potential hard times ahead.
Spotted The Verge, Tesla’s 2024 delivery numbers are not looking good. For the first time, the company reported that sales had fallen year over year.
The website reports Musk’s EV company produced 1.77 million vehicles in 2024, a 4% drop from the previous year. Tesla also delivered 1.79 million cars this year, 1% less than in 2023, while deploying 31.4 GWh in energy storage.
There were some silver linings. Tesla reported a record fourth quarter for deliveries, with 495,570 vehicles arriving in customers’ driveways. The EV company also delivered 11 GWh of energy storage products, which it claims was also a record.
Tesla also produced 459,445 vehicles, mostly Model 3s and Ys, in 2024.
Q4 2024
Production: 459,445
Deliveries: 495,570
Energy storage deployments: 11 GWh
A record for both deliveries & deployments
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Full year 2024
Production: 1,773,443
Deliveries: 1,789,226
Energy storage deployments: 31.4 GWh
→ https://t.co/YF9iWpPuud
— Tesla (@Tesla) January 2, 2025
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More Bad News For Tesla
Despite the late rally, Tesla flopped in 2024, falling short of its 2023 numbers. Donald Trump’s newest rump kisser, Elon Musk, warned of hardship for his company due to increased competition and a stale lineup of vehicles.
Even the world’s ugliest vehicle, the Cybetruck, and its “popularity” wasn’t enough to help Telsa have a good year.
According to Wedbush’s Dan Ives, despite breaking records, Tesla did not meet Wall Street’s target of 504,800 vehicle deliveries, resulting in a roughly 5 percent drop in the company’s stock price.
How does the company move forward under the Trump administration, which has made it clear he is not a fan of the incentives given to potential EV buyers? Begs the question? Why would Musk align himself with someone who would hurt his business in the first place?
We are intrigued to see if Musk and Tesla will face consequences in the future for allegiance to the MAGA movement.
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Source: WADE VANDERVORT / Getty / Cybertruck
New details are emerging about the suspect behind a Tesla Cybertruck exploding in front of a Las Vegas Trump Hotel.
Local news affiliate ABC13 KTNV Las Vegas is sharing new details in the Las Vegas Cybertruck explosion that left one person dead (the suspect) and multiple people injured.
The news website reports that following federal search operations in Colorado Springs, the suspect behind the explosion rented Elon Musk’s latest monstrosity via the Turo app.
NEW: Video shows Tesla Cybertruck explosion at the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. No word yet on the cause pic.twitter.com/tR9UabrsH4
— BNO News (@BNONews) January 1, 2025
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Investigators have identified the suspect as 37-year-old Matthew Livelsberger, who is linked to multiple addresses in Colorado Springs.
The FBI and ATF are currently searching one of Livelsberger’s townhome residences.
What’s raising eyebrows is the possible connection to the fatal Las Vegas attack that left 15 dead and as many as 30 people hurt.
ABC13 KTNV reports that Federal sources say the suspect in Las Vegas and the suspect behind the fatal attack in New Orleans were both in the military. Another connection is that they both use the Turo app to rent the vehicles used in separate incidents that could have been acts of domestic terrorism.
Social Media Reactions To The Cybertruck Explosion
The immediate reaction to Livelsberger allegedly turning the vehicle into a bomb filled with fireworks, camping fuel, and gas tanks was immediate.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Musk used the moment to highlight how the suspect chose the “wrong vehicle” as a bomb, praising his Cybertruck’s ability to contain an explosion, writing, “The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards. Not even the glass doors of the lobby were broken.”
The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards.
Not even the glass doors of the lobby were broken. https://t.co/9vj1JdcRZV
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 2, 2025
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One user pointed out that Phony Stark shouldn’t be so quick to glaze himself, alluding to the fact that the suspect’s poor bomb design, not the vehicle, prevented the explosion from worsening.
People are using the Las Vegas bombing to show the quality of the Cybertruck, when it reality it shows the quality of the explosive device that was used.
From the photo it looks to be poorly constructed and poorly thought out and that’s good for the people in the area. Thank… pic.twitter.com/cLcFYDwqyW
— Happy Captain (@EODHappyCaptain) January 2, 2025
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Another user pointed out a possible design flaw: the suspect couldn’t even get out of the vehicle. This hints at why Elon Musk and the DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) are so eager to abolish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The only person to die in the Cybertruck fire outside of Trump’s hotel in Vegas was the driver, who couldn’t escape. If I was the billionaire manufacturer behind it, I’d want to eliminate the US consumer protection bureau too. pic.twitter.com/6w6Jk1fzqQ
— Brandy Bryant 🏳️⚧️ (@InkMasterbator) January 1, 2025
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Other reactions point out that a Cybertruck exploding in front of a Trump hotel is a fitting way to start the year because of Musk’s involvement in the incoming Trump administration.
If this image isn’t setting the tone for 2025 I don’t know what is… pic.twitter.com/PAOBOGsdcd
— Travon Free (@Travon) January 1, 2025
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Welp.
You can see more reactions in the gallery below.
1. Before they go blaming an undocument immigrant for the attack, peep his profile
2. Poetic indeed
3. Eyewitness accounts
4. Homebred terrorism at play?
5. America is cooked
6. You couldn’t make this stuff up if you wanted to
7. 2025 is going to be a very interesting year
8.
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Source: ODD ANDERSEN / Getty / Elon Musk
Elon Musk is currently out here stumping for Trump and giving money to those who sign up for his Super PAC. Due to a new lawsuit, he may have to dig even deeper into his pockets.
Spotted on The Verge, one of the production companies behind the 2017 film Blade Runner 2049, feels Elon Musk, who is honestly just the Donald Trump of tech, ripped off the movie for his robotaxi event.
On Monday, October 21, LA-based production company Alcon Entertainment slapped Phony Stark, his company Tesla, and Warner Bros. Discovery, alleging the use of an AI image generator to create promotional art for the We, Robot event that resembles stills from Blade Runner 2049.
According to Alcon, who also owns the copyright to Blade Runner 2049, WBD and Tesla decided to slide them a request to use imagery from the film just hours ahead of the We, Robot event on October 10 that conveniently took place on the Warner Bros. lot in California.
The website notes that because this event was live-streamed internationally, Alcon directly had to provide clearance for the images, even though Warner Bros. owns some licensing rights to Blade Runner 2049.
Per The Verge:
“Any prudent brand considering any Tesla partnership has to take Musk’s massively amplified, highly politicized, capricious and arbitrary behavior, which sometimes veers into hate speech, into account,” Alcon’s suit explains. “Alcon did not want BR2049 to be affiliated with Musk, Tesla, or any Musk company, for all of these reasons.”
Despite Alcon’s refusal, however, Tesla allegedly decided to feed shots from Blade Runner 2049 into an AI image generator to create “a lightly stylized fake screen still screen” which was displayed prominently during the We, Robot presentation.
The Verge also reports that Musk mentioned Blade Runner while describing sci-fi interpretations of the future. The live stream cut to a photo of a man wearing a trench coat standing in front of a dusty apocalyptic cityscape, basically the entire look of Blade Runner 2049.
This is not the first time Elon Musk and his company have been accused of copying someone else’s style. During the same event, the director of I Robot, Alex Proyas, accused Musk of swagger-jacking his designs, a claim many people on X, formerly Twitter, quickly made.
So, these latest accusations don’t shock us at all.