A string of attacks on Tesla vehicles, chargers and dealerships nationwide has some Wyoming Tesla owners bristling.
Keren Meister-Emerich bought her Cybertruck last June before Tesla CEO Elon Musk was appointed to run President Donald Trump’s U.S. Department of Government Efficiency.
She probably wouldn’t buy one today if given the choice, she told Cowboy State Daily on Monday.
People apparently outraged at Musk’s agenda to terminate some government employees and cut spending, or his affiliation with Trump, have lobbed Molotov cocktails at Tesla properties and products, sprayed graffiti or found other ways to vandalize Tesla products or properties.
Meister-Emerich said no one has attacked or damaged her truck. But she’s nervous driving it these days, she added.
“I’m sorry that people feel they have to make a personal attack on someone who purchased a vehicle,” said Meister-Emerich. “I thought we were in a free country where people could choose what they wanted to purchase and drive.”
Though more nervous now, she still enjoys driving the Cybertruck, she said.
“But I don’t want to have to feel like I’m somehow making a political statement every time I drive it,” said Meister-Emerich, who is no fan of Musk’s political agenda. “I’m just out for a drive.”
Last month when the Tesla vandalism ramped up nationwide, Meister-Emerich’s sister sent her a bumper sticker that reads “Anti-Elon Tesla Club.”
That’s not just defensive, said Meister-Emerich with a laugh: for her, it’s also how she feels.
‘Just Stupid’
Cheyenne Cybertruck driver TJ Doan loves driving his vehicle so much, he’s taken to moonlighting for Lyft.
No one has attacked his truck either. But Doan said his coworker and friend took her Cybertruck to Colorado. Sometime after the friend had parked the truck, a woman approached it, pulled her own pants down and rubbed her bare bottom on it, Doan said.
The truck has a camera system that activates when someone approaches it, said Doan. He tried to show Cowboy State Daily the video on the Teslarati account on X.com, but the post appears to have been deleted.
Doan’s friend declined to comment to Cowboy State Daily, according to Doan.
As for Doan, he’s not political about being a Tesla owner. He said he doesn’t mind Elon Musk, who, in his view, is merely trying to improve the government, and he struggles to rationalize the destruction he’s now seeing.
It’s “just stupid to me,” said Doan.
He bought a Tesla Model 3 about six years ago and the Cybertruck more recently.
“They’re just the best vehicles,” he said. “You’ve got to drive it to know.”
No One Arrested In Rock Springs
Across the nation, Tesla attacks and perpetrators make headlines almost daily, while federal officials have threatened to strike back.
On Monday, FBI Director Kash Patel announced on x.com that the agency has launched a task force to investigate related crimes, which he deemed “domestic terrorism.”
“The FBI has been investigating the increase in violent activity toward Tesla, and over the last few days, we have taken additional steps to crack down and coordinate our response,” Patel tweeted Monday. “This is domestic terrorism Those responsible will be pursued, caught, and brought to justice.”
The Department of Justice has started charging people federally for lobbing Molotov cocktails at dealerships, building the incendiary devices and starting fires on Tesla properties.
A man who burned three Tesla chargers in a South Carolina parking lot this month accidentally set himself on fire.
The controversy reached Wyoming on Saturday, when an unknown suspect or suspects spray-painted swastikas on four Tesla chargers in Rock Springs.
No one had been caught as of Monday, as the area surveillance video coverage was not ideal, Rock Springs Police Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Coontz told Cowboy State Daily.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
