When Victor Alcala saw that the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, had the Department of Veterans Affairs in its crosshairs, he decided to set up a protest at his local Tesla dealership. On a rare rainy day in Los Angeles in mid-March, Alcala stood outside the Alhambra Tesla showroom holding a sign: “Don’t buy a Swastikar.”

Alcala, a social worker, interacts with older adults in his daily job. More than 56 million seniors receive Social Security benefit payments each month. For a long time, Republicans and Democrats saw the program as the “third rail of politics,” untouchable because of how many people were dependent on it. As part of DOGE’s efforts under Elon Musk, more than 7,000 jobs in the Social Security Administration will be cut, which Alcala believes will create a negative ripple effect when it comes to caring for senior citizens.

“I’ve worked with seniors for 25 years. And now that that agency is being hollowed out, we’ll end up seeing missed payments and a total system collapse of Social Security. What happens to all those people that are on social security, that’s their only form of income?” Alcala told The Intercept.

The protesters’ focal point, across age, race, class, and favored cause, is an abiding hatred of Musk

By protesting in front of the Tesla showroom, he hoped that he could make a small dent in pushing back against the cuts, particularly impacting Musk, who is Tesla’s largest shareholder. “DOGE is an illegal organization. Since he’s taken money out of our pockets, we’re here to take money out of his pocket as well.”

Across the country, hundreds of thousands of people like Alcala have swarmed Tesla showrooms, standing outside weekly to protest Musk and DOGE’s recent efforts to cut different government departments. They range from former public school teachers, to prospective young graduate students, to a 96-year-old woman who once lived under Nazi-occupied Netherlands.

To date, DOGE has been linked to more than 280,000 federal job cuts, including at the Department of Education, Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The protesters’ focal point, across age, race, class, and favored cause, is an abiding hatred of Musk— who has quickly shifted from helpful hatchet man to albatross for Donald Trump.

News outlets have reported that Musk may soon step down from his position with DOGE. Trump has increasingly seen the tech executive as a political liability, and Musk’s 130-day status as a “special government employee” will soon expire in May or June. But Tesla’s stock and branding may already have taken a more permanent hit.

While Tesla’s stock value........

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