AUSTIN, Texas — Critics of billionaire CEO Elon Musk protested outside a Tesla dealership in northwest Austin on Saturday.
The protest drew a counter-protest that included Austin-based conspiracy theorist Alex Jones of Infowars.
Around 12:10 p.m., the Austin Police Department said it was aware of the gathering in the 12800 block of N. U.S. 183 and Pond Springs Road. Police asked people to avoid the area and use alternative routes due to traffic impacts. By 1 p.m., APD said the crowd had dispersed.
The demonstrations are part of a growing backlash in North America and Europe to Musk’s disruptive role in Washington. Through the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, the Tesla CEO has been aggressively slashing government spending on behalf of President Donald Trump.
Protesters at the rally in Austin on Saturday held signs saying “boycott Tesla,” “Dangerous Oligarchs Gutting Everything” and “no one elected Elon.”
Demonstrators also drew attention to the death of Victor Gomez Sr., who died at the Tesla Gigafactory in Austin, leading to an OSHA investigation. “DOGE” is inside OSHA” one protester’s sign said on Saturday. U.S. Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) is urging the federal government to release information regarding the investigation.
Critics of Trump and Musk hope to discourage and stigmatize purchases of Tesla, the electric car company that is the world’s most valuable automaker.
Musk is taking direction from Trump to slash federal spending and sharply reduce the workforce, arguing that Trump’s victory gave the president and him a mandate to restructure the U.S. government. DOGE officials have swiftly gained access to sensitive databases, directed thousands of federal job cuts, canceled contracts and shut down sections of the government, including the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Musk’s critics say his actions defy Congress’s power to control the U.S. budget and present a host of ways for him to enrich himself. Musk leads several other companies, notably SpaceX, which conducts launches for NASA and the intelligence community, and the social media platform X.
Musk’s current net worth is an estimated $359 billion, according to Forbes, which calculated his 2024 net worth as $195 billion.