Tesla CEO Elon Musk told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that people “want to kill him” after a string of attacks on the electric car company in an interview that some have decried as “woe is me.”
The world’s richest person has also been conducting mass layoffs and slashing contracts in an effort to cut “waste, fraud and abuse” in his role as Department of Government Efficiency boss. Enraged by the sweeping, legally dubious changes to the federal government in recent weeks, some have targeted Tesla, torching charging stations, vandalizing vehicles, and throwing Molotov cocktails at the cars.
Not long after his rocket company SpaceX safely brought two astronauts stranded on board the International Space Station back to Earth, Musk said on Hannity Tuesday evening that the attacks against him and his company have been a “shock” to him. He blamed Democrats, without evidence, for the violence.
“It’s really come as quite a shock to me, this violence from the left. I thought the Democrats were supposed to be the party of empathy, the party of caring, and yet they’re burning down cars, and firing bullets into dealerships,” he said.
“Tesla is a peaceful company. We’ve never done anything harmful, I’ve never done anything harmful. I’ve always done productive things,” Musk continued, adding he believes there’s a “mental illness thing going on.” He suggested Americans were upset with DOGE’s efforts.
“It turns out when you take away the money they’re receiving fraudulently, they get very upset,” he continued. “They basically want to kill me because I’m stopping their fraud and they want to hurt Tesla because we’re stopping this terrible waste and corruption in the government. And well, I guess they’re bad people. Bad people do bad things.”
DOGE claims to have saved the government an estimated $115 billion — a figure that many reports have said is inaccurate.
Musk’s apparent attempt to appear sympathetic didn’t seem to convince some on X, the social media platform he owns.
“This is North Korea-level propaganda from Elon Musk and Sean Hannity in their interview on Fox News,” X user Art Candee said in response to the interview. “Fraud? If Elon Musk found fraud, then people would be getting arrested right now. This woe is me act, combined with blatant lies, is obnoxious.”
Another X user quipped: “Can’t wait to see Elon’s mom show up again to tell people to stop attacking her precious.”
“Such a victim,” yet another remarked.
”Rich kid never takes responsibility,” another user wrote.
CNN correspondent Hadas Gold posted: “I am not sure if Sean Hannity is interviewing Elon Musk or nominating him for sainthood.”
Pointing out how frequently Hannity and Musk discussed his electric cars, Aaron Blake, a senior political reporter at the Washington Post, wrote: “Tesla should probably be paying Fox ad money.”
In the interview, Musk said he believes “larger forces” were at work, questioning who funded and coordinated the attacks. The language he used was similar to that of Attorney General Pam Bondi, who on Tuesday issued a statement vowing to investigate these attacks, including “those operating behind the scenes to coordinate and fund these crimes.”
Bondi also labeled the violent attacks against Tesla property “nothing short of domestic terrorism.” The Department of Justice has already charged “several perpetrators” in connection to these incidents, she said.