There have been at least two cases of vandals attacking or targeting businesses associated with Elon Musk in recent weeks. All while the SpaceX CEO spends his time in Washington, D.C., unilaterally reorganizing the federal government with the Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE, like it’s his plaything.
In the first case, 25-year-old Ethan Paul Early from Tennessee was arrested on Feb. 19 and charged after his friend turned him in, accused of plotting to burn down Musk’s AI facility near Memphis. According to Early’s arrest affidavit viewed by Law & Crime, Early had gathered everything he needed to make thermite, a substance mixing aluminum powder and iron oxide producing intense heat and often used in welding.
Early’s friend who contacted the police told the authorities he encouraged Early to throw away the materials, and when the cops contacted Early, he said he did, and admitted he told a few friends he wanted to target the AI facility with explosives, motivated by Trump and Musk’s politics.
Early told the police he got carried away and that he was ashamed. Still, at this writing, Early was held at Cheatham County Jail on $500,000 bond, accused of commissioning an act of terrorism.
Molotov cocktails and grafitti in Colorado
Lucy Grace Nelson was arrested Monday in Loveland after police said she returned to the dealership there with “additional incendiary devices” and materials used in vandalism. https://t.co/3C9klfM0IC
— 13 Action News (@13abc) February 27, 2025
About six days after Early’s arrest, 40-year-old Lucy Nelson was arrested and charged in connection with several instances of vandalism at a Tesla dealership in Loveland, CO. Musk is Tesla’s CEO. According to Denver’s 9 News, over eleven days beginning in early February, Nelson is accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at Teslas and Cybertrucks parked on the lot and spray-painting “Nazi” and other obscenities directed at Musk on the vehicles. Nelson is currently behind bars on $100,00 bond.
The so-called genius forgot his human shield son. What a loving father. pic.twitter.com/p4Pvy4bIXk
— Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) February 23, 2025
In at least one more serious case, 28-year-old David Allen June Cherry from Southern Indiana was arrested after making a series of X posts in which he threatened to “gut” Musk and “blow up his house” in a series of X posts, according to Indiana State Police. Firearms, ammunition, and a ballistic vest were recovered from Cherry’s home, but he told police he was only kidding. As of late February, Cherry is accused of level five intimidation which could land him in jail for up to six years, and force him to pay a $10,000 fine. Cherry’s X account was suspended.
Musk is well aware that his Trump support and work with DOGE looting public coffers — or as he likes to call it, rooting out government waste, fraud, and abuse — have made him a target, mentioning at Trump’s first cabinet meeting he and his DOGE team had received death threats. Musk is even rumored to be using his son — who has inexplicably been with Musk in the Oval Office and other Musk appearances since Trump returned to the White House — as a “human shield.”
We don’t condone breaking the law and by no means support violence against Musk or anyone else, but these cases and more that seem likely to emerge simply prove how threatened Trump and Musk’s policies make many people feel. It’s going to be a long four years, indeed.
Published: Feb 27, 2025 05:02 pm