Stephen Register

Activists are attempting to attack and tear down Tesla as revenge against Elon Musk. If we stand together, we can make sure they fail. They've laid out their plan publicly and clearly. Pressure people to sell Tesla cars and Tesla stock to try and "stop Elon Musk". But these attacks won't hurt Elon, and they won't scare him into staying silent. They will only hurt American workers, American manufacturing, and America's competitiveness against China in building the autonomous electric vehicles of the future. We need reasonable people across the political spectrum — democrats and republicans — to stand up against these threats and violence for the good of our country. Elon Musk owns less than 20% of Tesla. The rest is owned by ordinary front line workers, retail investors, and by anyone who owns an S&P 500 index fund (basically everyone). When you hurt Tesla you're hurting America. Elon won't care about being worth $300 billion instead of $400 billion, but the production worker who is laid off will care about losing their job. These attacks are not noble. Some Democrats might say "Well Elon deserves it! What did he think was going to happen getting into politics?". But that's no reason not to stand up against violence and threats. You shouldn't have to face death threats, violence, and attempts to ruin your life just for getting involved in politics. This is why so few of our best and brightest do get involved. If you disagree with what Elon is doing, go and vote in the mid term elections and change the composition of congress. Go vote in the next Presidential election and pick a Presidential candidate you think represents you better. But don't resort to violence or attacking your fellow American. That's what our enemies want. The rationale behind these more mild types of attacks is not that different than any other act of terrorism. Imagine for example, when Charlie Hebdo was attacked, if people said "well, they shouldn't have drawn that cartoon..." Regardless of how you feel about the cartoon, resorting to attacks to try and silence someone and subvert the democratic process is wrong. It is something we should all stand against, regardless of where we stand on the political spectrum. We are in the middle of an AI "space race" with China. We can not afford to lose sight of that. The transition to electric vehicles is more important now than it has ever been, and Tesla is leading the way. Attacks on Tesla make America weaker. I call on Americans of all walks of life to join me in a counter protest. The goal of the counter protest is to neutralize the impact of these attacks by doing the opposite of what the attackers intend. 1. The attackers want people to feel shame for driving an electric vehicle, when in reality they should be proud. So where they leave threatening notes, leave notes thanking people for going electric. Tell people "cool car". Wave to other Tesla drivers and give a thumbs up. 2. Instead of dumping Tesla stock, buy Tesla stock (not financial advice). Instead of selling Tesla cars, buy Tesla cars — new and used. Post publicly about how you're doing this in response to attacks on Tesla. 3. Organize meet-ups at Tesla showrooms holding signs like "Support American workers", "Support the most American made cars" and "support cutting edge AI safety" You may be reluctant to stand up against your own party as they organize these attacks and protests. But if violence and threats are the norm for getting involved in politics, we will not move forward as a society. Both sides will then face violence and threats anytime they are in power. Tesla is the best of America, a national treasure we should all be proud of. Whether you love Elon or hate him, leave Tesla workers alone.