SOUTH SALT LAKE, Utah, March 18, 2025 (Gephardt Daily) – It’s been anything but business-as-usual of late at Tesla dealerships around the country, including one on South State Street, where protesters gathered Friday to voice their grave concerns over the company’s founder, Elon Musk.
While Musk’s shotgun approach to downsizing the federal government was foremost on their minds, so too was his seeming, if not overt, embrace of authoritarian regimes, from his Nazi salutes at a CPAC convention, to a statement he retweeted late last week on X, formerly known as Twitter, claiming “Stalin, Mao, and Hitler didn’t murder millions of people. Their public sector employees did.”
Musk removed the post, without comment, after receiving pointed backlash, including a statement by the Anti-Defamation League. “It is deeply disturbing and irresponsible for someone with a large public platform to elevate the kind of rhetoric that serves to undermine the seriousness of these issues.”
Victoria Grondahl, one of a couple dozen demonstrators outside the Tesla dealership, agreed. She called out Musk and President Donald Trump for what many believe is an attempt by the new administration to consolidate power in the Executive Branch by circumventing Congress and the Judiciary. “We are out here because we believe in the Constitution. We don’t believe that we have kings,” Grondahl said.
“We believe there’s a separation of powers in this country, and every thing that DOGE and Elon Musk are doing is a violation of our Constitution. We knew he (Trump) was going to have more power in his second term. And I’m really sorry voters didn’t listen to warnings of a lot of experts; those people who believe in the law and the Constitution were issuing nothing but warnings, about the retribution he was after, and the sort of unchecked power he was going to have in his second term.”
Photo: Gephardt Daily/ Patrick Benedict
Another sign-wielding protester, Kathleen Brown, said the random mass firings being dealt by DOGE were hitting close to home. “I’m really furious the Trump administration is using Elon Musk, and his troop of youngsters, to decimate the civil service in this country under the guise of supposedly looking for fraud and waste. It’s an absolute ruse, but if you look at their supporters, that’s what they champion,” Brown said.
“I personally know people who’ve been fired—people working for the National Park Service; not so sure there’s much fraud there. And there’s a place right here in town, one of my friends volunteers at. It’s teaching literacy to refugees, and they just lost all their federal funding. Why? Because the grants were related to refugees. That’s just wrong.”
Brian Gordon, one of the more vocal demonstrators, paused momentarily from trading barbs with Tesla employees, some of whom were touting their founder’s worth, to talk about his motivation for spending a Friday afternoon holding a banner on South State Street.
“I’m sick of the billionaires running the country right now, unelected leaders, including Elon Musk and pretty much anyone else who has a position in Trump’s cabinet,” Gordon said.
Photo: Gephardt Daily/ Patrick Benedict
He said he was hoping Trump supporters would someday come to realize, in his opinion, that they were being played, not just about tariffs, inflation, and the price of eggs, but also the rise of the so-called oligarchs.
“I think Trump supporters were lied to. And I think they’ll figure out one day they were lied to. Trump runs on sound bites and platitudes, and he has no substance. They are empty promises that he could never deliver on, and he knows it,” Gordon said.
“Hey, our stock’s up 30X since 2003,” yelled one of the Tesla workers, suddenly standing in the dealership doorway.
“Yeah, well, you’re down about a hundred billion this week, so keep going,” Gordon responded with a laugh.
It was about that time, one of about a half-dozen flag-bearing Trump and Musk supporters, who gave his name as “Kish, like fish, without the K,” sauntered before the protesters, hoisting a MAGA placard.
“We came out to support this dealership. We want to show our support for Tesla, local businesses, and DOGE, and what they’re doing and accomplishing in America. It’s difficult when a pendulum swings from Biden, and his administration, and doing nothing, to an administration that’s doing something. I’m sure it’s scary for a lot of people.”
What about the mass firings, workers suddenly losing their jobs, laid off without notice or actual verified cause?
“I wonder if the Americans who are upset, if this was Biden doing it, would they still have the same fury? We don’t know. We don’t have the answer to that question. This is a lot of Trump haters. I get it,” Kish said.
And what about Musk’s embrace of history’s most reviled dictators, specifically those he seemed to defend in his Friday morning retweet?
“I voted for Trump and I support Trump. That doesn’t mean I agree with one hundred percent of what Trump says or does. Same with Elon Musk. Support what he’s doing, but you know what, sometimes people get what is called ‘hung by the tongue’ and put their foot in their mouth. You know, millions were killed, by Hitler and what he did, and those people, so that was Hitler and his regime doing that, nobody else.”
And, as for Americans someday being able to heal the great political divide?
“It’s possible,” Kish said, rubbing his chin, his hard-knuckle biker gloves suddenly in view, “but I think they need to be in my bunker and my trench first, though.”
What’s with the gloves?
“My wife bought me these for gardening,” Kish said with a grin.
Photo: Gephardt Daily/ Patrick Benedict
