SUPERIOR, Colo. — Hundreds of people turned out on Saturday morning to protest Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his actions at the Department of Government Efficiency outside the Tesla dealership in Superior.
Protesters lined the streets outside the dealership, waving signs and flags and chanting as cars drove by the busy intersection.
“It's my responsibility as a citizen to do what I am doing now. It is our responsibility to stand up for our country,” said demonstrator Vicky Harner.
It’s part of the #TeslaTakedown protests happening across the country in recent days, urging people to sell their vehicles and dump their stock as CEO Elon Musk faces backlash over his close involvement with the Trump administration.
“We obviously have no issue with Tesla employees, folks that are driving Teslas. It's specific because the CEO of Tesla is engaging in these activities. He is leading them. He is decimating our federal workforces,” said protester Barbara Kish.
Musk is spearheading the Department of Government Efficiency—DOGE for short—in an effort to curb wasteful government spending.
It's resulted in thousands of federal workers across multiple federal agencies losing their jobs.
The next round of potential layoffs is coming from the U.S. Department Of Education.
An email from the agency's top human resources official sent on Friday offered many of its employees a buyout of up to $25,000.
The email says the offer is in advance of a "very significant reduction in force."
The president says a longer-term goal is eliminating the Department of Education.
“With all the people that they're firing, there's going to be ramifications,” said another protester.
Folks at the demonstration say protests like this one are just the beginning of what they call a movement to stand up for democracy.
“It's very encouraging. I believe it shows that we have people in our community who are very, very concerned about what is going on and that there's a need for us to make our voices heard. And it's very, very inspiring,” said Kish.
Elon Musk has said numerous times that he believes DOGE's work is extremely important because the federal government is too large, wasteful, and inefficient.
With the national debt now more than $36 trillion, he believes cutting the size of government can help reduce that debt.
Before the administration entered office, Musk claimed he could save the government $2 trillion, but he later backed down on that claim.
President Donad Trump continues to back the billionaire CEO, and told reporters that Musk is eliminating fraud and corruption inside the federal government.
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