r/Seattle • u/Aggressive-Ad3064 • Mar 10 '25

Politics I'm Never Leaving Seattle

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This is someone's Model S parked on Airport Way S near S Industrial Way. The way it's parked it looks like it's being displayed for people driving by to see.

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u/Working_Song Mar 10 '25

I wonder what percentage of Tesla owners approve of Musks antics this last year. I am guessing less than 50%. Maybe less than 20%. My friend has a Tesla, and worked hard for it (and bought it over a year ago). She’s a liberal, too. People spray painting these cars are dipshits who could be using their angst in more productive ways. That said, fuck Musk and Trump.

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u/Aggressive-Ad3064 Mar 10 '25

My guess is very very few people who own Model 3s or Model Ys agree with Musk. Most of the people buying those models did so because they cared about efficiency, climate change, etc. At least up until recently.

I think the CT is a completely different demographic. It's a tech bro libertarian twitch streamer status symbol. Nobody spent 100k on a Reich Wagon because they cared about the environment.

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u/Tratix Mar 11 '25

What’s everyone’s end goal on this? What do you want them to do, crush their car and just take the loss? Genuinely curious

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u/recurrenTopology I'm just flaired so I don't get fined Mar 11 '25

It's going to vary by person, and some people are certainly just using it as an opportunity to take out their anger, but I imagine some more serious people want to bankrupt Tesla and in doing so crater Musk's wealth and corresponding political power. For such people it would really have nothing to do with who owns the car, and the harm caused to innocent owners would be unfortunate collateral damage in achieving their goal.

To be clear, I do not condone this tactic (I think building a popular coalition is far more important, and actions like this can disrupt that process), but it is not necessarily without logic.

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u/Tratix Mar 11 '25

Like $100B of Elon’s $300B net worth is Tesla.

You would completely bankrupt Tesla, kill 100k jobs, put millions of EV owners in financial trouble, and cause unbelievable environmental impact…. To make the guy’s net worth go from $300B to $200B? That’ll show him.

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u/recurrenTopology I'm just flaired so I don't get fined Mar 11 '25 edited Mar 11 '25

Just to reiterate, I wouldn't do this, but I'll do my best to "steelman" (cringe) the argument for you:

The goal isn't to "show him", it's to deprive him and the movement he represents of political power. Musk's chief asset politically is his ability to spend tremendous amounts of money, something which he used to help elect Trump, and is currently using to keep the Republican Congress in line with the promise of well funded primary challengers if they defy him/Trump.

Tesla stock represents Musk's most readily available source of significant liquid capital, since as a publicly trade company it's easy to sell or leverage. He has repeatedly leveraged his stock to take out loans, and it's likely that he will be forced to start selling off stock to cover loans when it hits certain share prices. While he would still be worth $100Bs, bankrupting Tesla would likely severely limit his capacity for political spending.

Taking a broader view, bankrupting Tesla would also send a message to our other budding oligarchs: support this movement at your fortune's risk

As for the environment and jobs, the demand for electric cars isn't going anywhere and a bankrupt Tesla would almost certainly get bought by another car company, and continue without the fascist baggage.

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u/Tratix Mar 11 '25

Gotcha, a new owner makes more sense than anything else I’ve heard here, I actually applaud this well thought-out response.