See MAGA and anti-Tesla protesters face off for first time at Calif. dealership

Nathaniel Levine, The Sacramento Bee on Mar 30, 2025

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Dueling protests filled both sides of Granite Drive in front of the Tesla dealership in Rocklin, California, for the first time Saturday, as supporters of President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk mounted a counteroffensive to the weekly protests against the electric car brand that started in February.

The MAGA crowd, numbering around a hundred at its peak, had staked out the prime real estate on the dealership side of the four-lane road, which members of the group credited to their early arrival. A caravan of vehicles sporting Trump, DOGE and American flags passed by repeatedly.

Russ Wyluda, the Placer County chairperson for a state secessionist movement known as New California, said he brought his group to show support for Trump and Musk’s efforts to cut federal spending.

“Unless someone figures out how to stop the national debt from growing, we are going to fail as a nation,” he said. “It’s important that we trim the government and get a balanced budget or something really close to it.”

On the opposite side, the anti-Tesla group — which moved up its protest to 10 a.m. from its normal noon start in anticipation of the counterprotest — had more than 200 at its peak.

“We’re just here ourselves, the regular folks making our homemade signs and being peaceful and cheerful and quiet. We’re fighting for democracy — we’re fighting for them too, they just don’t understand it,” said Barbara Brass, an organizer involved in multiple groups opposing Trump’s policies.

Rocklin police vehicles cruised the road several times, with officers using speakers to ask protesters to stay out of traffic, but a number of demonstrators crossed to engage in discussions — sometimes heated — with the opposite group.

Not all of those discussions ended antagonistically. Protesters Christina Rosen and Michaela Swaney had a long discussion on the MAGA side of the street that included a hug and a handshake.

“I love having conversations with people … no screaming, no name calling, just really trying to understand each other’s side,” said Swaney. “I don’t think it needs to be done in an aggressive way.”

Rosen added before crossing back: “It turned into a conversation about working-class rights, solidarity and the need for us to connect as people, and discuss these ideas and our differences without name-calling or having conflict or running away. She did better than me — I get hot-headed sometimes and I’ll raise my voice.”

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