Making Tesla Toxic with Evan Sutton | Hello Merge Tag Ep. 30
“Unless you genuinely believe that elections should be up for sale to the highest bidder… I want you to realize that Elon Musk will be the highest bidder in any election that he wants to participate in.”
Evan Sutton is the founder of Firekit Campaigns, where he works with unions, Democrats and nonprofits to build powerful stories in today’s fractured media landscape.
Before founding Firekit Campaigns, he worked as senior leadership at the American Federation of Teachers and the New Organizing Institute.
Evan started his career in politics and advocacy in 2007 as a field organizer on Barack Obama’s campaign.
He recently wrote a piece for Melissa Ryan’s Control Alt-Right Delete called Make Tesla Toxic.
That piece will be linked in the show notes, along with his follow up from a few days later called “Not All Tesla Owners.”
Throughout our conversation, we discuss:
- Why Tesla is such a strong target
- How targeting Tesla can be an effective tactic in the fight against the company
- How actions against Tesla not only send a message but can also limit Elon Musk’s ability to influence future elections
- Lessons from the anti-smoking campaign that can be applied in taking on Tesla
- Why simply putting up anti-Elon stickers isn’t enough—and why people should consider divesting completely from Tesla
- Elon’s role in the upcoming Wisconsin State Supreme Court race
- A visualization of just how wealthy Elon really is
- Where digital organizing is taking place these days
- The importance of centering stories that truly impact people’s lives
- Who is excelling at digital organizing right now
- The response to Al Green and what Democrats should have done during the State of the Union
- Why now is the time for “Blood and Teeth Mode”
- And much more!
“Don’t get stuck in the sunk cost fallacy. If you think you’re underwater in your Tesla today… think about what your Tesla’s gonna be worth [in 6 months] and how hard it’s gonna be to offload… And if you own Tesla stock, get out while it’s still worth something.”
Some relevant video clips from our conversation:
Should People Be Divesting from Tesla?
Find all episodes at HelloMergeTag.com or wherever you stream podcasts.
Links
The People V Musk (from WisDems)
The article from 404 Media about a Facebook Group being used by Cybertruck owners to cope with “relentless mockery”
Evan’s Bluesky and Firekit Campaigns
Big thanks to our sponsor Civic Shout. Learn more about the great work they’re doing to help Democratic campaigns and progressive nonprofits build their lists ethically at civicshout.com/partners.
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