It's Now a Hate Crime to Vandalize Teslas in DC

[riversedge]

It’s Now a Hate Crime to Vandalize Teslas in DC

A splashy manhunt over anti-Musk graffiti shows just how far the capital will go to placate the Trump
administrationhttps://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/03/27/elon-musk-tesla-vandalism-hate-crime-washington-dc-00252290.



By Michael Schaffer 03/27/2025 10:00 AM EDT

...................
Add Mayor Muriel Bowser’s D.C. government to the long list of blue-state entities cornered into genuflecting before Donald Trump.
............
The announcement read more like pro-Tesla White House messaging than a public-safety notice from a blue city’s police force: “The suspects wrote political hate speech onto the victims’ Tesla vehicles then fled the scene,” the police press release declared. “The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating these offenses as potentially being motivated by hate or bias.”

The document was accompanied by security camera pictures of a man and a woman believed to be the perps. They are still at large. The department’s X post about the investigation was subsequently reposted without comment by Musk himself.

..................

In fact, according to police reports I reviewed, the so-called hate speech actually consisted of sarcastic zingers like “Let’s do away with the administrative state! Buy a tesla!” “I like what Musk is doing,” “Go Doge I support Musk killing the dept of education,” “Ask me about my support of Nazis,” and “I love Musk and hate the Fed Gov’t.”

To be sure, these are crimes: . ...............
................

But calling it hate speech seems like a stretch — and it isn’t hard to imagine ulterior motives for making such a stretch. “For me it’s a good example of how you can have well-intentioned legislation that leads to absurd results,” said Patrice Sulton, the executive director of the D.C. Justice Lab. “You get to just weaponize something that’s not the purpose for which it was passed.”.........................






President Donald Trump, accompanied by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, speaks next to a Tesla Model S on the South Lawn of the White House, on March 11, 2025. Trump spoke out against calls for a boycott of Musk's companies and said he would purchase a Tesla vehicle in a show of support. | Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

https://bsky.app/profile/oceancalm.bsky.social/post/3lm2ny53yhk2q

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Prosecutors will have to explain the difference between Tesla and Chevy grafitti

I doubt juries will go there. This is not about hate, or protest. It's about political influence.

[Skittles]

2. vandalism and arson and ambushing and shooting people in the back are WRONG

but it's just plain sickening how far the GOP will go to protect President Musk

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Legally, it can't be a "Hate Crime" b/c Musk and Tesla are not a protected class.

A hate crime is a criminal act motivated, in whole or in part, by an offender's bias against a victim's perceived or actual race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.

A criminal defendant can be charged with generic arson, assault, malicious mischief, etc. But not a hate crime.

[MichMan]

6. I would think Nazi references and swastikas would fall into that category

[no_hypocrisy]

7. Only if it could be proven it was used to threaten Jews.

Tesla is a brand, not a population. Plus, the swastika used in this case is in reference to Musk raising his arm in a Nazi salute, not to target Jews.

[MichMan]

8. Not too sure about that

If someone paints KKK on the side of a building in a community with black residents. I doubt a defense that it was on a building owned by a white person and wasn't referring to the Ku Klux Klan would have any merit. "It is my nickname, "Koca Kola Kid"

Even if the Tesla wasn't owned by a Jewish person, it is seen in public. Judiasm is a protected class and a swastika is a known symbol of hate against them.

[no_hypocrisy]

9. Actually, one could make an argument that Musk making a Nazi salute

could be considered a "hate crime" as it's a message to Jews, LGBTQ folks.

He wasn't exactly blowing kisses.

[MichMan]

10. Any of 50 states AG are certainly free to file charges against him

Pretty certain the DOJ won't be

[sop]

4. Misuse of public office for private gain - 5 CFR § 2635.702

It's illegal for Trump to use the federal government to promote Tesla, or use federal agencies to go after Tesla critics.

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-5/chapter-XVI/subchapter-B/part-2635/subpart-G

[GreenWave]

5. Can you vandalize a person if corporations are people, my frien? (Romney)

[Martin68]

11. This is corruption of the hate crimes law.

[FakeNoose]

12. Is it a "hate crime" if we all hate Elon Musk?

Isn't he displaying his hatred of the American people by destroying our government while we stand by helpless?
Isn't Musk guilty of hate crimes every time he fires career federal employees and shuts down their agencies?
Who elected him to do this anyway?

Let's get a proper definition of the term "hate crime" so we're all on the same page.

[OldBaldy1701E]

13. Depending on how it was vandalized, i.e.: hate speech or the like, the yes it can be such.

The government being used to protect the products of a singular individual is completely out of line and they should all be impeaches/removed because of it.

Oh look, Bose has some new noise-cancelling earbuds for under $200!...

[Evolve Dammit]

14. So cars now have the same rights as people under the law???