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LAST UPDATE | 25 Mar
SINCE ELON MUSK became a key member of the Trump administration, people driving electric vehicles made by his company Tesla have been on the receiving of verbal abuse and in some cases had their cars vandalised.
Most of the anti-Tesla protests and instances of vandalism have been confined to the United States, but some have cropped up in Europe and last week around 20 cars at a Tesla dealership in Belfast had their wing mirrors smashed off.
The Journal is looking to report on how people in Ireland feel about driving a Tesla these days – if you drive one, have you had any negative experiences since Musk became such a close ally of Donald Trump? Or perhaps nothing in particular has changed as you drive from A to B?
If you have a story to share, please contact The Journal by email through answers@thejournal.ie and describe your experience in around 250-350 words.
Please include your age and county. Please also tell us your first name or let us know if you would like to remain anonymous.
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anyone still driving a Swasticar after Musk’s comments deserve to be ostracised, they should sell their Swasticar and get a proper car if it bothers them
@qffaffaf affrafrfraf: Asking for it, eh? Now do women in short skirts…
@qffaffaf affrafrfraf: Why would someone who bought a Tesla 2-3 years ago “deserve to be ostracised”?
The money loss would be significant to switch cars.
If you buy one now, that’s a different story.
@Wolfgang Bonow: Doesn’t matter, they should be happy to lose money rather than continuing to drive a Swasticar.
@qffaffaf affrafrfraf: They should be happy to lose money, because you said so? Lol get over yourself, narcissistic freak.
@qffaffaf affrafrfraf: ‘Sell their Swasticar’, to who?
@qffaffaf affrafrfraf: Spoken like a true left wing anarchist.
Maybe it’s time you got a job, and then you can afford to buy an alternative brand of EV from that perfact paragon of freedom, tolerance and democracy thats China.
@qffaffaf affrafrfraf: Wha’ ‘bout tha climah.
As an engineer who covers 80k annually I see a lot of entitled drivers who hog the overtaking lane on motorways. Quite a lot of these are Tesla drivers who have unbelievable acceleration, overtake lines of traffic on the inside lanes and then range anxiety kicks in resulting in a return to average speeds but they will not leave that overtaking lane. No sympathy for these particular sub group of motorists lols
@DMA: I use the M50 frequently, and opt to move to the lane giving direct access to my exit, to avoid the risky lane switching in the inevitably dense traffic on all lanes. Whilst this means travelling in the left lane southbound, I have to move to the right hand lane northbound, to safely approach the Malahide/ North city exit. Despite this, and the well signposted 100kph limit, I regularly get drivers flashing to drive in excess of that speed. This week, while I was exactly at 100, a driver with a car full of children, tailgated, flashing, and clearly agitated until He, could zoom past at excess speed. Cameras badly needed to nail this and dangerous lane switching.
Well if they lose their s*** over Tesla, don’t let them know where BMW, Mercedes and VW originated.
Also Henry Ford had an interesting relationship with a certain German leader back in the day….
@Fergus O’Donnell: not many Jewish ford dealers in the US
@Fergus O’Donnell: very true. Elon deserves to be bankrupted as is already morally bankrupt
@Fergus O’Donnell: I was in Israel about 25yrs ago…. Loads of Mercs. Loads. Not sure even they cared about the history, they just seen a car they liked.
@Fergus O’Donnell: That was long in the past, and is an attempt at deflection.
@jaune hendy: unfortunately he only owns 12% of Tesla. He makes a lot more money from Spacex where he owns 45% and a lot of that money comes from US Gov contracts. Corruption of the highest level.
@Andy Masterson: thats the thing – Musk only owns 12% of Tesla. All this protesting is pointless and wont affect Musk much at all
I’d never buy a Tesla because I don’t view electric cars as reliable enough. You need to drive them 60,000 miles just to be on level terms with a petrol or diesel car in terms of emissions. The mining of the minerals needed for the batteries emits 20 tonnes of carbon alone. I’m not one to care about all that stuff but people who say they buy them do so for environmental reasons when things aren’t actually so clearcut. I can’t believe that we’ve reached a point where there needs to be a debate as to whether destroying or damaging someone’s private property is wrong. Tesla owners should be able to drive around and park their car without the fear of being verbally abused or have their car trashed. It’s laughable that there are so many idiots angry at Elon Musk for CUTTING wasteful spending.
@William Jennings: I think people are more annoyed that he does nazi salutes in public and interferes with elections by promoting far right parties and their hateful agendas.
@Argus Romsworth: *interferes with elections in countries where he is not a citizen
@Argus Romsworth: All the protestors outside Tesla factories in the US are chanting anti-DOGE slogans and holding up anti-DOGE posters. That’s their main target and they don’t like the fact that Musk has eliminated $55 billion in wasteful spending already. It’s crazy to think that we’ve reached a point where people are actively opposing their tax money being spent properly. I don’t agree with the parties that Musk has endorsed in various countries. However, that’s “election interference?” Are you actually having a laugh? Why are various politicians and other celebrities in the US allowed to endorse political parties around the world but when Musk does it that’s “election interference?” You’re nothing more than a left-wing blowhard who doesn’t actually know what he’s talking about.
@Argus Romsworth: Fitstly Elon is an American citizen!!! Secondly Elon is doing AMAZING things for the American people who voted for Trump for this very reason….Trump and Elon are doing what we elected Trump to do!!! Pitty the Irish can’t do the same for Ireland!!!
From the above article lads
“ The Journal is looking to report on how people in Ireland feel about driving a Tesla these days”.
Most rational Irish couldn’t care less about DOGE. The far left get all offended by DOGE. And the far right get all defensive about DOGE. Both freak followings.
The rational care about what he doing in our context. ie how he behaves towards our EU
@William Jennings: that’s rubbish,the peanut farmers in the US can sell their harvest because they had a contract to sell in to USAID,these same farmers that voted for trump are now fecked
@BrennJam: why is a yank on the comments here ,FFS do we have to see your uneducated bs everywhere
@sean weir: That’s a good thing. Farm subsides are extremely harmful and it’s good to see DOGE beginning to phase them out. Peanut farmers, or any farmers for that matter, should not be getting taxpayer handouts. That’s precisely what happens when the government subsidies their production and encourages them to sell to the Department of Agriculture. If peanut farmers or any other agricultural producers can’t survive without government handouts, then maybe the system they’re operating under is fundamentally flawed. Subsidies artificially inflate prices, creating a system where producers are rewarded for inefficiency and consumers get hit with inflated costs. That’s not how a healthy economy works. The government is not supposed to be a sugar daddy for every agricultural industry.
@BrennJam: tell that to your peanut farmers ,
Btw
1 dozen large eggs €2.49
Ireland ,best little country in the world
@William Jennings: buying food from farmers is not a subsidy, it’s paying them for product. The abrupt cancelling of USAID without any prior warning has cost lives and it will cost American farmers billions in lost earning on products that are planted but not yet harvested.
@William Jennings: fact is electric car is less harmful than an equivalent ice car but way better to get bus or train. Walking is the best. Good luck with it
@Dermot Blaine: Oh, so the government just happens to buy food from farmers at guaranteed prices, regardless of market demand, and that’s somehow not a subsidy? Let’s call it what it is, a taxpayer-funded price support scheme that shields farmers from competition and artificially inflates their income. If a private business overproduces something no one wants, it takes a loss and adjusts its operations. That’s how markets work. But when farmers overproduce, the government swoops in with taxpayer money to buy up the surplus at set prices, ensuring they never face the consequences of bad business decisions. That’s not the free market. That’s corporate welfare dressed up as food security. DOGE is absolutely right to get rid of this government-supported racket, especially for peanut farmers.
@BrennJam: you need to F 0ff nice and quietly there now Uncle Sam
@BrennJam: The Irish have more sense and compassion for others than to elect disgusting Trump.
@William Jennings: They are objecting to his role in dismantling democracy along side King Donald of Orange, the Turd!
@William Jennings: he hasn’t eliminated $55m in wasteful spending. DOGE isn’t made up of forensic accountants and auditors, it’s mass firings and teams of techies closing down agencies and departments with zero oversight, and without understanding the consequences. Is gutting staff at the centres responsible for tracking and predicting hurricanes and extreme weather events ‘eliminating waste’? Did firing, and then rehiring, hundreds of nuclear safety staff eliminate waste? Even then, the claims of $55m is full of errors and discrepancies including ‘The largest item on its latest list is a $1.9 billion cut at the Treasury Department—except this contract was actually canceled last fall, under the Biden administration, before DOGE even existed’
@JoeJoe Kilbride: ‘https://www.forbes.com/sites/shaharziv/2025/02/25/doge-removes-biggest-spending-cuts-from-wall-of-receipts-heres-what-it-could-mean-for-doge-dividend-checks/‘
@William Jennings: but you don’t complain that Musk is the wealthiest man in the world only because of government funding, subsidies and loans. ‘Musk has reportedly collected $38 billion in government funding over the years through contracts, loans, subsidies, and tax credits,’
https://fortune.com/2025/03/19/elon-musk-subsidy-harvesting-strategy-tesla-spacex-xai-doge/
@JoeJoe Kilbride: The number is $55 billion, not $55 million. I’ll be happy to break it down for you. 2,334 Department of Energy contracts have been cancelled, saving $8.2 billion. 3,489 Department of Health and Human Services grants have been cancelled, saving $10.4 billion. 748 DEI contracts have been cancelled, saving $1.6 billion. IRS IT modernisation programs were ended, saving $1.9 billion. 12 Department of Education contacts have been cancelled, saving $30 million. 14 unused Department of Education leases have been cancelled, saving $44.7 million. Most of USAID was phased out apart from lifesaving medicine and food deliveries which will be now handled by the State Department. This has cut at least $32.5 billion from the budget. It’s pretty clear how much has been eliminated.
@JoeJoe Kilbride: Elon Musk runs and has founded many successful companies. These include Tesla, SpaceX, StarLink, PayPal, OpenAI and the Boring Company. Only SpaceX receives government contacts and he has had to compete with other private space companies and NASA for them. This makes up only 15% of SpaceX’s revenue. Every other company is completely self-sufficient. Musk actually rejected electric car subsides from the government and has actively lobbied to stop them from being reintroduced. When Musk got a loan from the Obama Administration along with other car manufacturers back in 2009, Tesla was the only car company to pay back the loan early. So no, the idea that Musk is the richest man in the world because of government handouts is complete and utter bulls**t and you know it.
@William Jennings: Trump acting as a Tesla salesman outside the Whitehouse is totally ethical and frankly embarrassing – but you won’t criticize that!
I would not vandalise, but I will say that I’ve long held a disdain for people that buy products based on future promises, or ignore the actual quality of the product.
@ben wu: Tesla stocks are a speculative asset. Musk has rarely delivered on any of his most recent promises. Probably going back to just pre Covid.
Additionally there are some amount of BYDs appearing on the roads. The Chinese are now on par with US for innovation.
@Buster Lawless: That’s a cool feature, but far from an unique one. I’m fine agreeing that they did play a huge role in making EV’s viable and popular.
My issue is the false claims that they keep making since 2016, after the actual founders left. They didn’t need to, um, go down that road.
@Buster Lawless: You can’t. This is called V2L and it voids the warranty with Tesla. Many other electric vehicles can do this and they don’t void the warranty but with Tesla it does.
@Buster Lawless: Billy bullshitter strikes again…and I’m the real Lance Taylor, not the one you set up in my name…
@Argus Romsworth: the Chinese are well known for their human rights efforts
@Adrian Cawley: Agreed, just saying ‘designed in america’ is not the same as ‘made in’. It’s at best a deflection these companies use, and Tesla, as a company now, is not for worker rights.
I dont particularly like tesla cars (the look of them) but if someone works hard and spends their money on them then they are entitled not to be ostracised and have them vandalised. We are not like the US, a person’s property should be respected.
@Toca Stories: we are like the US. Anti immigrant groups here burn down property
@Alan: we’re also too dopey to be like the US. Just look at how we walk or drive.
The mindset of some people is beyond comprehension.
Hitler who is responsible for the holocaust in Europe backed Ferdinand Porsche who built the VW and then the Porsche cars so if you want to boycott something then why not those brands. What has Musk done to generate such hate.
@Andy Preneur: he’s a bollocks ,and his cars are rubbish
@Andy Preneur: The Nazi uniform was primarily designed by the German fashion designer Hugo Boss. Founded in 1924, the Hugo Boss company initially produced uniforms for various organizations, including the Nazi Party, during the 1930s and World War II. Hugo Boss himself was a member of the Nazi Party and supported the regime, which influenced the company’s direction during that time. After the war, the brand evolved and became known for its high-end fashion and menswear.
Boycot Hugo Boss?
@sean weir: Most technologically advanced cars the world.
@Andy Preneur: WW2 is ancient history. Long in the past. Not relevant. An attempt at deflection.
@sean weir: if you dont like the cars, fair enough – but to not buy one because Musk is a complete and utter nong is ridiculous. tesla is a big company – think of all the people who actually made the cars and developed the technology that will be hurt if Tesla goes down. Musk will still be rich, of that you can be certain
@P0h2YVAL: this is true. What is not spread around so much is how the uniforms of the Third Reich are heavily influenced by homeoerotic themes and modes from cabaret and nightclubs of the 1920s. Hugo Boss incorporated much of that ouevre into the design. Love a big helmut meself. Gay Nazis. What next?
@Andy Preneur: he used his extreme wealth and ownership of X to power Trump’s propaganda campaign and is now trying to crush democracy. He used to mock Trump but he bought the ‘right’ to act without oversight and the richest man in the world now controls the President of the USA. His wealth has doubled since Trump won but he’s fired tens of thousands of federal workers.
The Federal Aviation Administration fined SpaceX for violating its launch licenses on two occasions and Tesla has the highest accident rate of any auto brand in the US but he’s been allowed to get rid of regulators who just happen to oversee his businesses such as the Federal Aviation Administration and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
@John Duggan: ‘Tesla Has the Highest Fatal Accident Rate of All Auto Brands, Study Finds
‘Tesla vehicles suffer fatal accidents at a rate that’s twice the industry average, according to a new report.’
Are you a news outlet? Have you convinced some people that elon musk is a danger and evil?.
@Darran Macken: Elon did that himself
@Cheese Sandwich: he did 2 Nazi salutes. He backs neo nazis and retweets their claims without any fach checking. He funds far right parties. He cuts jobs recklessly in nuclear industry, scientific research, ebola prevention and wider cuts across public services without any due diligence then dances around a stage with a chainsaw celebrating the fact, he is supportive of Trump dismantling of due process in the courts and calls for judges that disagree with Trump to be impeached, he bans free speech in X such as Dropkick Murphy recently, he openly interferes in other countries elections and he is a ketamin user. None of this is spin, it’s all factual.
What’s to like?
@Cheese Sandwich: his cars are bollocks,sure his cyber truck has been banned in the UK because it is so dangerous
@Dermot Blaine: tldr
@Cheese Sandwich: what’s tldr?
@Dermot Blaine: Yeah but apart from that?
@Dermot Blaine: Your rant.
@Cheese Sandwich: what does TLDR mean
@Cheese Sandwich: Too Long Didn’t Read. Also a good news channel on YouTube.
@Dereck: explains a lot about him, doesn’t it? It’s not even a long post. Trumpers hate being faced with facts
@Darran Macken: he does an excellent job doing that himself
@Darran Macken: We learned that ourselves from other sources.
We don’t like him because he is part of the trump administration, actively involved in destroying many things that were good in USA, and probably another russian asset, like trump.
What about all the people in their Chinese cars , from the country who is bankrolling Russia!!!
Wouldn’t mind owning one but too rich for my blood.
@ecrowley ecrowley: Work out the true meaning and message in the Tesla Insignia on the car and send your answer to Tesla the Company and if you are one of the few to figure it out, then you can expect to be Contacted by a Musk representative with your chance of winning a car or the chance to go to Mars on Musk’s exploratory trial Rocket !
The new James bond will be driving a tesla.
@P. V. Aglue: nope. Not a chance.
Anyone considering a Tesla should research the mountains of second-hand Teslas appearing all over Europe. Initially supported for various good reasons, Councils throughout Europe bought them for state employees by the thousands. However none were then aware of the explosive capability of a defective battery, or the problem of disposing of a battery after a shelf life of 5 years, or of the high cost of its replacement. By recently introducing very low cost alternatives the Chinese have shown how overpriced are Tesla cars. And now Musk is rapidly applying nails into the Tesla coffin. Ireland May have few retaliations it can apply to the Trump onslaught that is about to be unleashed against us, but one is easy….stop buying American vehicles!
@Informed: if I was in the market for a new car I certainly wouldn’t even look at a Tesla but that doesn’t mean I’d lie about them and your comment just makes you look unreliable. The fact is that Tesla offers a battery warranty of up to eight years or 100,000 miles and if the battery falls below 70% of charge capacity during this warranty period Tesla replaces it
@Informed: none of what you said regarding Tesla cars is even close to being correct.
@Informed: you are horribly misinformed there fella. If you are going to go off about Tesla cars at least get your facts straight
Yes and No.
no power it can only be hassle, and waiting for it charge, then there’s the hostility at charging points.
Who remembers Ratners demise in the UK over one comment? From the ‘throwing his heart out’ to the crowd salutes to everything else since, Musk has had multiple Ratners moments.
Anyone who thinks that they can really hurt musk by saying rude things to Tesla drivers is complete nong.
Anyone who thinks they can hurt Musk by boycotting Tesla is also fooling themselves. Musk would just blame someone else for Tesla being in trouble- like his mate Trump and even if Tesla does collapse ( which I doubt it will) Musk will still be obscenely rich
Is vandalism now a form of free speech ?
Much better cars out there than these junk heaps
have your say