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Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post U.S. President Donald Trump looked at various models of Teslas on the South Lawn at the White House on March 11.
The Washington Post
16:43 JST, March 23, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday escalated his administration’s threats against those who destroy Tesla vehicles, pondering on social media whether he should send the vandals to an El Salvador prison notorious for its rough conditions.
Trump also wrote that people who vandalize or destroy Tesla vehicles – made by the company owned by his ally Elon Musk – could get lengthy jail sentences.
“I look forward to watching the sick terrorist thugs get 20-year jail sentences for what they are doing to Elon Musk and Tesla,” the president wrote on social media. “Perhaps they could serve them in the prisons of El Salvador, which have become so recently famous for such lovely conditions!”
Trump later suggested that recent efforts to vandalize Teslas are acts of terrorism worse than what took place during the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
“When I looked at those showrooms burning and those cars – not one or two, like seven, eight, 10, burning, exploding all over the place. These are terrorists,” Trump said at the White House. “You didn’t have anything like that on January 6th.”
“Domestic terrorism” is a phrase broadly used by law enforcement to describe crimes aimed at pushing political, religious or social goals in America.
Trump issued a sweeping act of clemency to virtually all involved in the Jan. 6 riot shortly after taking office. Five people died in the attack or in its immediate aftermath, and 140 police officers were assaulted.
On Thursday, Attorney General Pam Bondi said that at least three suspects who allegedly destroyed or attempted to destroy Tesla property in recent weeks with molotov cocktails have been charged in federal court and could face up to 20 years in prison.
In recent months, Tesla’s stock value has plummeted, and authorities have arrested people who have allegedly torched the electric vehicles in protests of Musk’s role in the Trump administration. Trump has stood by Musk, who is orchestrating the slashing of the federal government as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE.
Trump held what amounted to a Tesla car show at the White House this month to try to boost the company’s flailing sales. Bondi has also deployed fiery rhetoric against potential Tesla vandals, calling the crimes domestic terrorism and promising “severe consequences” for those involved in the attacks.
The statements highlight the Trump administration’s steadfast support of Musk, a major political donor for Trump and other Republican candidates, as critics say the unelected official wields too much power and polling shows that almost half of Americans disapprove of Musk’s work within the federal government.
