Eric Loes, a Tennessean and recovering insurance agent, attended last week’s demonstration at the Tesla showroom in Franklin, a suburb of Nashville, as a counter-protester and described the scene as “misguided and misinformed.”
Over the weekend, the leftist group Indivisible Tennessee organized protests at four Tesla showrooms across the Volunteer State.
Tesla dealerships and showrooms across the nation have been targeted in recent weeks by violent attacks and protests organized by left-wing groups who oppose Elon Musk’s involvement in the Trump administration as he oversees the new U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Loes said the demonstrators at the protest in Franklin appeared to be protesting more against the Trump administration and Musk than the electric vehicle company, as individuals were holding signs that read “F*** Trump” and “Musk is a domestic terrorist” despite the protest being called “Tesla Takedown.”
“I think they’re just misguided and misinformed…The promotion sign clearly mentioned Tesla and taking them down. Whereas the lady that organized the protest that was on the TV stations saying, ‘This isn’t about Tesla, it’s about Elon.’ Well, you need to change your marketing because your marketing clearly stated you wanted to take Tesla down,” Loes said on Monday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
“The other thing, the leader was also bringing up on the TV interviews that [the Trump administration] is going to cut Social Security…It’s just dumb,” Loes added.
Loes pointed out the hypocrisy behind the protests of Tesla, noting the high likelihood that the individuals with retirement funds protesting the electric vehicle company are advocating for their own financial loss.
“The vast majority of Tesla stock is owned by retirement funds…These people that are protesting, if they have retirement funds, there’s probably a pretty good chance that Tesla’s in it. So they’re basically wanting their retirement funds to tank. It makes no sense. I’m 60 years old. I’ve had white hair for a while now, and there were some fellow white hairs across the street,” Loes said.
Loes said he traveled to the scene of the protest simply out of curiosity, noting how a majority of counter protesters had the same intentions and were not organized.
“It was a beautiful day to watch the left protest an immigrant who owns the only car company built entirely in the U.S. and a company that just returned the stranded astronauts from space,” Loes said.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Tesla Protest” by Indivisible Tennessee.
