Tesla’s stock plummeted more than 30 percent in the first quarter of 2025, losing its post-election gains, as the electric vehicle pioneer grapples with an unexpected challenge: a consumer revolt against CEO Elon Musk’s leadership of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency and his political alliances.

Once celebrated across the political spectrum, Tesla has transformed from an environmental icon into a political flashpoint.

Tesla dealerships have become symbols, explains Lara Starr, who organized a 200-person demonstration in Marin County, California. “You can’t disentangle Tesla from Musk, and you can’t disentangle Musk from Trump. And the one thing I can say about Musk positively is he has handed us a place in almost every community around the country that is symbolic of everything wrong that is going on in Washington.”