Unhinged Left Unleashes Attacks On Tesla

A hate fueled campaign targeting Elon Musk has turned violent.  The well-funded effort has rapidly escalated across at least 11 states.  Thugs have torched Tesla cars and trucks. Fired shots at dealerships. Vandalized Tesla charging stations.  Spray painted threatening signs: "Kill Elon."

The perpetrators have keyed Tesla cars in parking lots and garages. Spray painted swastikas, a symbol of Nazi Germany, on owners' cars. Tossed Molotov cocktails at parked cars.  Defaced cars and trucks with "f-Musk" in black paint.  The swarm of attacks appear to be more than just random acts.

A shadowy website called "Dogequest" has posted personal information of Tesla owners.  The dark site includes the names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of Tesla drivers. The anonymous creators claim they will remove the data when owners prove they have sold their Teslas.

The site has also posted personal information on employees of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).  Musk confirmed publicly that most DOGE employees have received death threats. This is not a peaceful form of protest, despite what activists assert.   

The dishonest media also has painted a target on Tesla with disparaging coverage. In the latest example, the Financial Times posted a story accusing Tesla of financial shenanigans, claiming it identified $1.4 billion in missing funds.  Days after the story tanked Tesla stock, the Times admitted it was untrue.

The politically charged backlash is driven by Musk's leadership of an effort to cut waste, fraud and abuse at the federal government at the direction of President Trump. Democrats, desperate for an issue, have made Musk a lightning rod for their often incendiary language about DOGE. 

Less than a year ago, Musk was a darling of Democrats and the left.  The electric car pioneer exemplified the drive to save the climate by making gasoline powered vehicles obsolete.  Democrats celebrated Musk for his financial support of the party's candidates, including Joe Biden in 2020.

Now Democrats and leftwing activist groups have made it their mission to financially destroy Elon and Tesla. Predictably, the rhetorical signaling has lent a sheen of virtue to the blitzkrieg of destruction. Attorney General Pam Bondi has labeled the violence "domestic terrorism," an apt description.  

Several perpetrators have been charged, but the combustible forces of vengeance and unhinged anger are showing no signs of abetting.  Arrests and prosecutions are welcome, however, the Department of Justice needs to follow the money funneled to organizations agitating the aggression against Tesla.

The money trail starts with a familiar Democrat billionaire: George Soros.  His Open Society Foundation has given $7.6 million to a group known as Indivisible Project.  The leftwing group also received $2 million from the Sandler Foundation, which funds the news platform ProPublica. 

From the Indivisible Project website in bold red letters: "Donald Trump and Elon Musk think this country belongs to them. We're taking to the streets nationwide to fight back with a clear message: HANDS OFF." Included on the site are signs reading: "GTFO Musk" and "Fire Elon Musk."

Indivisible Project is allied with Democratic Socialists of America, which is also backing protests against Musk. The group claims 78,000 members and has been a leading proponent of anti-israel protests.  The organization supports far-left Democrats, including Rep. Rashida Tlaib.

Ironically, a group which provides support for climate change protests is behind the effort against Musk.  Philadelphia-based Disruption Project urges anti-Musk opponents to: "Sell your Teslas.  Dump Your Stock."  On its website, it offers suggestions on how to support Gaza.  

Another leftwing activist group Action Network has aided Disruption Project and other groups to organize the "Tesla Takedown." Action Network brags it helped raise $70 million for Kamala Harris. The organization also donated $13 million to Harris, according to OpenSecrets.  

Action Network, headquartered in Washington D.C., has a fund raising arm that collects money for other activist groups.  The organization also helps like-minded groups set up a website.  In the past, it has hosted a site for the Communist Party and the Young Communist League.  

A joint effort by Action Network and Disruption Project was responsible for listing the addresses of Tesla dealerships for protestors to target. Disruption Project collects donations for its activities through Action Network, founded by a former vice president for the Service Employees International Union. 

Seattle-based environmental organization Troublemakers collects funds through Action Network as well.  Troublemakers has been involved in the "Tesla Takedown" protests at Tesla dealerships.  It's no coincidence that four Tesla Cybertrucks were torched and a car set ablaze in Seattle.  

These activists groups hide behind disclaimers professing they eschew violence.  However, they don't explicitly condemn it either.  The DOJ must hold these leftish organizations and their funders accountable for ginning up hatred that stirs anti-Musk adherents to commit violence.  

Dismantling Department of Failing Education

The Department of Education is failing America's 49 million public school children.  By its own standards, it has a dismal record of elevating student achievement.  Test scores for students have cratered to their lowest level in decades, despite billions of dollars in federal spending.

The latest figures show that federal, state and local spending on K-12 education reached $878.2 billion. That represents 6.1% of the nation's Gross Domestic product (GDP).  Except for tiny Luxembourg, the United States spends the highest percentage of GDP on elementary and secondary education. 

The Department of Education contributed $79 billion for K-12 education in the states in the 2024-2025 government budget cycle.  That represents 13.6% of the total funding. Many Americans might be surprised at the low percentage, given the agency's powerful influence over our children's education.

Congress allocated the agency a total budget of $238 billion in the latest rounding of funding. Lawmakers allotted an additional $190 billion to schools for tutoring and other interventions aimed at recouping the learning loss after in-person learning was suspended during COVID.  

Test scores from the most recent "Nation's Report Card" offer no evidence billions of dollars improved learning. Reading scores on the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress fell two points on average for fourth and eighth graders, marking a steady decline that predates the pandemic. 

In math, eighth grade scores were unchanged from 2022, the last time the test was given.  Fourth graders scores ticked up two points, but remained below their performance in 2019.  The gap between lowest and highest performing students widened in the test scores.

The scores don't tell the whole story.  More eight graders than ever before are testing below the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) group's lowest benchmark for reading.  One-third of eighth graders are below the "lowest" standard while 40% of fourth graders fall below the minimum. 

Internationally, 15-year old U.S. high school students rank 26th in math; 20th in reading; and 23rd in science.  The rankings were compiled by the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2023, the latest year for which the data is available. 

The distressing test scores are partially a reflection of the ineffectiveness of the gusher of billions in COVID school funds. Education watchdogs found numerous cases of waste and abuse, according to testimony before a house subcommittee in 2024. 

Among the abuses: Funds were used to install Astroturf on a football field; purchase an ice cream truck; expand a nature center that belonged to a city; host a annual teachers conference in Las Vegas; and millions on internet service that was never launched.  The department's oversight was MIA. 

These failures underscore the unassailable fact: The Department of Education is a misnomer. It educates no children. It is a bureaucracy that serves as a middleman, dispatching our taxpayer dollars to states without adding value, while piling on burdensome complexity and onerous overregulation.   

                                            HISTORY  

The Department of Education traces its lineage to President Andrew Johnson who created the agency in 1867.  Two years later it was moved to the Department of the Interior. During the next 100 years, it was shuttled between agencies before landing in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. 

The modern day department was birthed for a political calculation. President Jimmy Carter promised a cabinet level education department in his 1976 presidential campaign to win the support of the teacher's union (National Education Association). The union contributed to his campaign and turned out voters.

In 1979, Congress passed legislation which Carter signed into law. Lawmakers allocated $14 billion for the department's first budget. Over the years the department's mission morphed. Today the department lists its goal as to "promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness."  

Like many Washington agencies, the department has strayed far afield from its mission and increased its  authority to micromanage education. Congress writes a check for the department to meet its obligations and then lathers on discretionary dollars that allow the agency a wide berth in spending.

Under President George Bush, lawmakers ushered in the "no Child Left Behind" mandate that subjected schools to sanctions if students did not make yearly progress.  Every school that accepted any federal education tax dollars became accountable to Washington bureaucrats.

Test scores took precedent over everything.  Many public schools cut nonessential classes such as art, music and even physical education.  It was a disastrous experiment that lead to cheating by some schools to get a passing grade.  That should have ended the notion Washington could manage education.

However, during the Obama Administration it created "The Race to the Top," with a $100 billion budget to improve learning results. The agency created an open competition for funding, with the money being parceled out to schools with the most elaborate and creative proposals. Test scores failed to improve. 

Since 1979, the department has spent nearly $1 trillion in pursuit of its goal to boost learning with little to show for it.  The department's real customers--students--are the forgotten pawns in this taxpayer funded shell game.  

                                          THE FUTURE

It is time to acknowledge K-12 education is best left to the states. Education was never envisioned by the Constitution's framers as a federal responsibility.  States have their own Departments of Education, school districts, local school boards and funding.  

Not surprisingly, the legacy media and Democrats are throwing up roadblocks, claiming the nation's education system will be irreparably harmed if the agency loses its unchecked authority to deliver money. The feds attach strings to leverage taxpayer dollars, often including social agenda mandates.  

The predictable fear mongering is aimed at protecting the teachers union, which counts on the agency to do its bidding.  As just one example, the union lobbied Congress for the COVID funding, then worked with big city school districts to reward its members with pay increases and signing bonuses. 

As far as federal funding, the money should be transferred via block grants to the states.  One example is  money for special education, including counseling, therapy and transportation. Likewise, taxpayer dollars for research are fungible and can be sent to states, particularly for research on disability issues.

A New York Times article worried that employees responsible for the national report card on education would be lost in a downsizing. This is another red herring because many states already conduct their own surveys to assess student learning.  If a national survey is needed, turn it over to the Census Bureau.

The department's role in higher education is primarily administering federal student aid programs while managing the bloated $1.6 trillion student loan program.  It also oversees the accreditation process for colleges, investigates civil rights violations and collects education data.

The department's investigations into alleged civil rights violations at schools can be moved to the Department of Justice, which already is charged with enforcement.   The student loan program, overseen by the agency, rightly belongs in the Treasury Department.

What the nation can do without is the department's penchant for using taxpayer dollars to push for transgender men in women's athletics and funding of diversity, equity and inclusion in colleges.  Social issues only matter in the faculty lounges of elite universities, but contribute zero to learning.

The fact is states have the strongest incentive for improving education at the elementary, secondary and collegiate level.   

The competition for new businesses is fierce between the states.  States with the highest literacy rates and most proficient schools attract new industry and jobs.  Businesses in turn provide additional funding for public schools. Failing schools will hamper states economic growth and prosperity.

Additionally, educated young people are also less likely to live in poverty; more likely to get a job; less likely to end up in the prison system; more likely to earn higher income; more likely to improve their health outcomes and more likely to be active in their community. 

The viable long-term solution to revitalize education in America is to bring accountability for delivering academic results closer to the parents, teachers and local school boards.  Each state has unique schooling challenges which do not fit the cookie-cutter approach of Washington. 

Leave it to the states and local school boards to decide curriculum, performance standards, allocation of funds, teacher hiring and training standards, graduation requirements and long range planning. They know what's best for their children--not the 4,400 agency employees cloistered in Washington.    

DOGE is A 104-Year-Old Idea

Those squawking about efforts to root out government waste, fraud and abuse act as if it's a dangerous, new concept.  They obviously haven't been paying attention.  The Budget & Accounting Act of 1921 birthed the Government Accounting Office, which was DOGE before Elon Musk rode into Washington. 

The GAO is a non-partisan congressional watchdog overseeing how the federal government operates and spends taxpayers money.  The 104-year-old agency, renamed the Government Accountability Office in 2004, has recommended thousands of ways to save billions of dollars during its long history.

This little known agency has examined every nook and cranny of the federal government from Social Security, to the Department of Defense weapons systems, to Medicaid, foreign aid, cybersecurity, Internal Revenue Service, to Health and Human Services and federal disaster programs. 

The agency's reports are circulated to Congress, often detailing waste, potential fraud and efficiency improvements. On occasion, their findings are used by lawmakers to highlight the government's shortcomings in Congressional hearings.  Sometimes the agency work receives muted news coverage.

But there's one problem.  Federal agencies cited in the GAO's reports more often than not equivocate in adopting changes to address glaring weaknesses.  Unlike Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, the GAO does not have authority to force federal agencies to cut waste or implement findings.

An examination of selective reports by this writer found an alarming number of instances where agencies made little progress, despite calls to implement cost savings, modernize outdated systems, manage fraud risks, address human resource violations and harden cybersecurity protection.

To underscore the recalcitrance, the GAO in February catalogued 4,387 recommendations it had made since 2010, but noted that 764 had not been fully implemented five years later. Of the 1,881suggestions involving so-called, "high-risk" areas, 463 have not been completed as of this year.  

Translation: the government bureaucracy resists warnings and suggestions for improvement.   

In some cases, the GAO's reports have served as a road map for DOGE to inspect deficiencies.  For instance, agency reports in 2023 and 2024 pointed out that "fraud poses a significant risk" at the USAID (United States Agency for International Development.). 

In its letter to the agency, GAO used unsparing language: "Our first priority recommendation calls for agency guidance to require regular fraud risk assessments for USAID programs and documentation of program-specific fraud risk profiles.." 

Sure enough, DOGE ferreted out USAID funds that ended up funding Al Qaeda affiliated fighters in Syria and supporting poppy production in Afghanistan, benefiting the Taliban.  Two Hamas linked groups were on the receiving end of USAID funding funneled through a third party.

After the hurricane and fire damage devastated many cities, it came as no surprise to the GAO that residents were unsatisfied with the federal government response. The GAO offered this blistering assessment of the federal approach in its 2025 report:

"...disaster recovery is fragmented across 30 federal entities.  So many entities involved with multiple programs and authorities, differing requirements and timeframes, and limited data sharing across entities could make it harder for survivors and communities to navigate federal programs."

Translation: There should be a consolidation of agencies and responsibilities to improve efforts to get aid faster to Americans who need it. 

When Musk called for the return of government workers to their offices, it was greeted with cries of outrage from politicians and unions.  But not one media organization pointed out that the GAO had identified the cost to American taxpayers of maintaining empty buildings.

In a report, the GAO underscored annual maintenance and operating costs for the 277,000 government buildings was $10.3 billion in 2023. The agency calculated that with the wholesale adoption of telework, deferred maintenance and underutilization costs totaled $370 billion in 2024.

That's chump change for your federal government. Since 2002, the GAO wrote that federal agencies have reported about $2.8 TRILLION in estimated improper payments, including over $150 billion government-wide in each of the last seven years.

Now you know why there was so much push back when Musk wanted to review federal payment data.

DOGE and its champion Musk will eventually fade into history.  If government worked the way our Constitutional framers intended, lawmakers would grab the reins and hold federal agencies accountable. Unfortunately, they often have been doing just the opposite: feeding the unaccountable beast.

The GAO, with a workforce of 3,100, has demonstrated its chops for uncovering waste and inefficiency. But it lacks teeth to force change. Congress should consider legislating authority for the GAO to compel departments to comply in a timely manner with its recommendations or risk budget and force cuts. 

Without drastic changes, 100 years from now another Elon Musk will be needed to take a chainsaw to the federal bureaucracy.