Tech billionaire Elon Musk, once beloved by Democrats, is now viewed as a top enemy of the ideological left because of his affiliation with President Donald Trump, and some of his companies, particularly social media platform X and electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, have been targeted with boycotts, protests, cyberattacks, and even physical attacks.

On Tuesday, Trump said that violence against Musk's Tesla would be considered acts of "domestic terrorism" and vowed that those who carry out such attacks would "go through hell" when caught and prosecuted, Reuters reported.

Those remarks came as part of a broader event outside the White House in which Trump praised Musk for his success not only in his commercial ventures but also in uncovering and cutting substantial amounts of waste, fraud, and abuse in federal spending.

Musk and Tesla are literally under attack

Forbes reported this week that what began a few months ago as predominately peaceful protests and boycotts aimed at Tesla have escalated into criminal acts of vandalism and violence in numerous incidents across the country.

Some of those acts have been relatively minor, such as spray-painted graffiti on vehicles at Tesla dealerships, while others have been far more significant, including flattened tires and shattered glass, vehicles and dealerships shot up with rifles or handguns, or set alight with Molotov cocktails and other improvised incendiary devices.

Those physical attacks, combined with the leftist boycotts and protests, to say nothing of the incessant negative rhetoric against Musk from Democrats and their media allies, have resulted in Tesla's stock value plummeting over the past few weeks and months.

Trump shows his support for Musk

On Monday, President Trump expressed his continued support for Musk with a Truth Social post that claimed most Americans thought Musk was doing a "fantastic job," but stated that "the Radical Left Lunatics, as they often do, are trying to illegally and collusively boycott Tesla, one of the World’s great automakers, and Elon’s 'baby,' in order to attack and do harm to Elon, and everything he stands for."

"In any event, I’m going to buy a brand new Tesla tomorrow morning as a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk, a truly great American," Trump added. "Why should he be punished for putting his tremendous skills to work in order to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN???"

According to Axios, Trump made good on his word on Tuesday with an event outside the White House in which he showcased several Tesla vehicle models and chose one to purchase for himself, even though he can't drive it for security reasons, though he planned to make it available to White House staffers and others for their use.

Asked at one point for his thoughts on calls from some to label violent attacks against Tesla as acts of domestic terrorism, Trump replied, "I will do that, I'll do it. I'm going to stop them." Per Forbes, he added, "You do it to Tesla and you do it to any company, we're going to catch you and you're going to go through hell."

The president went on to say that Musk has been treated "very unfair" by the political left following his work with DOGE and noted that while the vast majority of people "love" the products produced by Tesla, Musk and his companies are now hated and targeted by some "because he's finding all sorts of terrible things that have taken place against our country, they want to penalize him in the economic sense."

Group behind boycotts and protests pushes back against "domestic terrorism" label

According to Newsweek, the anti-Tesla boycotts and protests have been largely organized by a group known as #TeslaTakedown, which insists its actions have been entirely non-violent and peaceful, and despite it being clear that the "domestic terrorism" label would be reserved for those who engage in violent behavior, the group still took offense to the president's remarks and issued a rebuttal statement.

"We are a nonviolent grassroots protest movement. We oppose violence and destruction of property. Peaceful protest on public property is not domestic terrorism. They are trying to intimidate us. We will not let them succeed," the group said. "It's ironic that Donald Trump wants to label our peaceful movement as domestic terrorism. This is the man who sent a violent crowd to Capitol Hill to steal an election he lost, then pardoned more than 1,600 rioters who were found guilty by juries of their peers of serious crimes against the United States of America."

"We will not be bullied or allow our rights to be trampled on or stolen," the statement added. "If you're ready to show Donald Trump and Elon Musk that there are no kings in America, join a Tesla Takedown protest in your community this weekend."