MSNBC claims violent arson, gunfire attacks on Tesla dealerships are 'protests'

MSNBC anchors described the attacks on Tesla dealerships across the nation as "protests," coming as Trump has stated that attacks on these dealerships would be treated as domestic terrorism.

The anchor said, "you have this post claiming that protests at Tesla dealerships are illegal. He said today he would label violence against dealerships as domestic terrorism." After playing a clip of Trump’s remarks outside the White House while viewing a Tesla car, the anchor said, "So just to be clear, you protest a private company, you are labeled by this administration a domestic terrorist."

After taking the Tesla car for a test drive at the White House, Trump was asked by a reporter if the recent violence against dealerships would be labeled domestic terrorism.

Trump responded, "I’ll do it. I'm gonna stop 'em. We catch anybody doing it, because they're harming a great American company."

He added, "When you hurt an American company, especially a company like this that supplies so many American jobs, that others are unable to do. When you do that, those people are gonna go through a big problem when we catch them. We've got a lot of cameras up," adding that "we already know who some of them are. We're gonna catch them."

"And they're bad guys. They're the same guys that screw around with our schools and universities. The same garbage. No, we're gonna catch 'em. Let me tell you, you do it to Tesla you do it to any company, you're gonna go through hell."

Dealerships across the nation have been targeted in the wake of the Trump administration taking office. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, has headed efforts to cut government waste through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

One dealership in Salem, Oregon was attacked multiple times. A trans-identified male has been arrested in connection with the attacks. The first took place on January 20, when Molotov cocktails were thrown at the dealership and several vehicles. The second attack took place on February 19, during which the windows of the dealership were shot out and several vehicles were struck by gunfire. 

Another trans-identified male was arrested in connection with the vandalizing of a dealership in Loveland, Colorado. Across three incidents, explosives were left at the scene and the dealership was vandalized. One incident that took place on February 7 is being investigated as attempted arson.