While Nazi Profiteers Get a Free Pass, the Left Burns Teslas
5th April 2025
Civil disobedience practiced by the likes of Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. is one thing. Crimes against people or property for political ends are quite another. The latter risks return to the law of the jungle, a cure worse than the disease.
That provides the framework to assess the proliferation of criminal attacks on Tesla vehicles to express opposition to Elon Musk’s politics, including his virtual duumvirate with President Donald Trump and affinity for Nazi-like memes, gestures, and ideas. For starters, there are multiple peaceful avenues to protest Musk. Boycott Tesla or sell Tesla vehicles. Criticize Musk and urge others to boycott his enterprises. Organize politically to oppose Musk, such as in the recent Wisconsin Supreme Court election.
Musk’s nemeses are disingenuous in their professed opposition to Nazis. BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen have escaped their wrath. But all three profited from Jewish slave labor during the Third Reich. BMW’s Herbert Quandt was allied with the Nazi regime and benefited from the slave labor of at least 57,000 Jews. Gunther Quandt, Herbert’s father, acquired numerous Jewish-owned companies at forced, fire-sale prices. Quandt heirs are majority owners of BMW. An independent study from 2011 found that “the Quandts were linked inseparably with the crimes of the Nazis.” The specific value of BMW’s reparations to Israel is unknown.