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Those who predicted leftist agitators’ return to “fiery but mostly peaceful” protests in the wake of Donald Trump‘s return to the Oval Office didn’t have to wait long for vindication. Within the first fifty days of Trump’s second term, multiple Tesla dealerships, cars, and charging stations have been burned, shot, or otherwise vandalized in what can only accurately be described as acts of domestic terrorism.
While the majority of the destruction has taken place in deep blue west coast states, the pattern of politically-motivated destruction has spread nationwide.
Driving the violence? Anger over Trump’s collaboration with Elon Musk, whose Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been undertaking a wide-ranging streamlining of the federal behemoth.
This week a particularly dim-witted leftist in North Charleston lit three Tesla Superchargers on fire, engulfing himself in flames in the process.
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According to the North Charleston Police Department’s (NCPD) official report (.pdf) on the incident, officers were dispatched to the Mello Mushroom at the Tanger Outlets after bystanders called in an arson in progress.
“Witnesses described a white male in a grey jacket or hoodie with a black face mask, who has spray painted ‘Fuck Trump Long Live Ukraine’ on the ground in red paint next to the Tesla charging stations,” the report noted.
It further cited witness testimony that the individual “began doing something with some beer bottles,” before he “began to light them on fire and throw them at the charging stations.”
“Witnesses advised the suspect fled on foot towards the Zaxbys,” the report continued, noting the perpetrator “accidentally caught his own back on fire while throwing the devices.”
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It is unclear whether the suspect succeeded in igniting a blaze large enough to materially damage the chargers.
When FITSNews asked NCPD officials for an update on the status of the investigation, we were informed investigators with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) had taken over the case.
Inquiries to the ATF have not immediately been returned.
The North Charleston attack mirrors dozens of similar incidents that have taken place in other states.
In Loveland, Colorado, 42-year-old Lucy Grace Nelson is alleged to have repeatedly vandalized a local Tesla dealership, spray-painting “Nazi” under the dealership’s entrance sign and “Fuck Musk” over it’s front windows. Nelson was arrested on February 24, 2025 while in possession of incendiary devices and faces up to 20 years in prison on malicious destruction of property and explosives charges.
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On January 20, 2025, Adam Matthew Lansky, 41, allegedly torched half a million dollars worth of Tesla vehicles before pointing an AR-15 at witnesses near the Salem, Oregon, dealership.
Lansky allegedly returned to the scene approximately one month later and fired multiple rounds into the dealership.
Lansky arrested shortly thereafter, and is facing federal charges for the possession of illegal explosive devices.
Tesla dealerships in Tigard and Portland, Oregon have both also taken gunfire, although authorities have yet to arrest the individuals believed to have perpetrated the shootings.
Federal investigators are also looking into multiple Tesla Cybertrucks seemingly set ablaze in Seattle, Washington.
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UPDATE: Tesla fire investigation is now in the hands of Seattle Police and the ATF. So far none of the agencies are calling it arson. I also noticed a suspicious opening in the fence. But it's unclear if it was there before or after this incident. @elonmusk https://t.co/2G7gu19UQa pic.twitter.com/40lQaTNJun
— Jonathan Choe (@choeshow) March 11, 2025
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Luigi Mangione’s targeted killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson three months ago was a harbinger of forthcoming left-wing violence.
Days after the shooting, columnist David Harsani wrote in the New York Post that “it’s time for a national conversation on left-wing violence.” He was right.
The near-deification of Mangione by the political left was telling but not surprising. Leftists have a longstanding habit of using violence to make their political points.
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Harsani astutely noted in his column that “In the early 1900s, the United States was awash in Communist and anarchist bombings, culminating in the deaths of 30 people on Wall Street in 1920.”
More recently, in “the 1970s, left-wing terrorist groups such as the Weather Underground were setting off bombs at the Capitol, police stations, the Pentagon and the offices of state attorneys general.”
“An 18-month period in 1971-72 saw an amazing 2,500 bombings in the United States by leftist groups,” Harsani noted.
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Modern Democrats have repeatedly encouraged political violence through reckless rhetoric.
Nancy Pelosi, upset with Trump’s first term policies, recently said she doesn’t “know why there aren’t uprisings all over the country.”
In a separate statement, Pelosi referred to Trump’s supporters as “enemies of the state.”
“When they go low, we kick them,” former attorney general Eric Holder repeatedly said of Republicans.
Former president Joe Biden also famously expressed his desire to “beat the hell out of” Trump.
Despite multiple assassins nearly killing Trump during the 2024 campaign, Democrat politicians continue to advocate for violence against him and his supporters – including Musk.
Maryland Democrat House representative Kweisi Mfume recently called the push against Musk’s efforts to streamline government efforts a “street fight.”
“Those are fighting words,” Utah Senator Mike Lee posted on X. “And they’re not honorable words.”
While sane members of society will recognize Mfume’s overheated rhetoric as the foolish partisan fodder it is … counting on Democrat’s sanity is not exactly a promising prospect as the recent fire, bullets and destruction wrought on Tesla products demonstrates.
On February 18, 2025 Indiana resident David A. Cherry was charged with felony intimidation after writing a social media message to Musk indicating his intention to gut him “and parade your corpse through the streets.”
“I am going to plant a bomb in Elon Musk’s house,” Cherry’s account posted on Feb. 16, 2025.
Similarly, Irmo, S.C. resident Travis Lang was indicted earlier this week for threatening to kill Trump.
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Terrorism is defined as “the use of violence to achieve a political goal by creating fear in a population.”
These political attacks are definitional domestic terrorism.
Trump failed to aggressively address the widespread destruction of Black Lives Matter rioters during his first term. It would be a mistake to permit similar levels of lawlessness in his second.
Perhaps feeling the hot lead of an assassin’s bullet has changed Trump’s outlook, but until the Left is forced to condemn their “brown shirts,” he and Musk are at an outsized risk of the next assassin not missing – and America is at an outsized risk of burning to the ground as a result.
Trump ought not forget that.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
(Via: Travis Bell)
Dylan Nolan is the director of special projects at FITSNews. He graduated from the Darla Moore school of business in 2021 with an accounting degree. Got a tip or story idea for Dylan? Email him here. You can also engage him socially @DNolan2000.
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10 comments
But wait, INSURECTION at the Capitol! January 6th! Trump/Russia Collusion! Unelected!
Liberals almost never see the irony in almost everything they do.
I would not call Luigi Mangione’s situation “left wing violence”. Luigi was addressing a problem that affects lots of people, on both the left and right side of the political spectrum. Greedy corporations and their CEO’s continue to squeeze the middle and lower classes in every way they can imagine so the corporations enjoy “record profits” and the CEO’s get multiple million$ in salary and bonuses. People are growing tired of that, regardless of political orientation.
Thanks for making my point – at best Mangione is a self-delusional “for the people” vigilante, at worst a terrorist. Whatever label you stick on him; he is a liberal ideolog, murderer.
What about the people the CEO’s cause to die, suffer terrible pain, lose their homes, and worse, with their greed quests? Oh, that’s right! They use the legal system, bribery, and other corruption, and that is all just fine and dandy. I don’t consider Luigi a murderer. He was just an unpaid agent of poetic justice.
What about the literal millions who have a procedure that saves or extends their lives and the claims pay with no issue? No one appointed “Saint Luigi” to be the judge and jury. How would you feel if “Tom” shot an abortion provider because he disagreed with abortion?
If an insurance company extends or saves a life or somehow creates comfort for someone, that is just the cost of doing business to them. Sometimes those things inadvertently happen. The insurance industry, all kinds, is a scumbag industry designed to suck the life’s blood from its customers as they hope they will be taken care of if they ever need it. In too many cases, they are left with nothing. Whether health, life, automobile, home, or some other realm; the purpose of an insurance company first and foremost, is to take your money. Their next purpose is to avoid paying on a claim, or at least minimize that payment as much as possible. Fancy buildings need to be built. CEO’s and other company officers need ridiculous salaries and bonuses. Shareholders must have a guaranteed profit each and every year. These things cannot happen if customers receive benefits they thought they were paying for.
Elon Musk ought to have a sign placed in front of every Tesla dealership, and every group of charging stations, reading “Hate Has No Home Here.”
Fuck Musk. This bozo has been subsidized by the government to the tune of billions of dollars and Trump turned the White House into a Tesla showroom for him. Crony capitalism?
“I love Tesler (sic)” –Stable Genius Trump who spent much of the campaign bitching about how electric vehicles are awful. That mushbrain can’t even pronounce it correctly.
Democrats are the greatest threat to this nation
Haha. You are funny, buddy. I thought a little peaceful protest was all good? I mean, if raiding the Capitol isn’t political violence then how is burning shitty electric cars?
I wonder if the writing on this blog will improve when you have to do it in Russian.