On Saturday morning, I observed nearly 400 protesters gathered outside a Tesla showroom in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They were armed with flags and cardboard signs, and they said they felt like America’s democracy was under siege.

“Hey, hey, ho, ho, Elon Musk has got to go,” the group chanted as they paced up and down the sidewalk outside the dealership. They waved their signs in the air — an assortment of hand-drawn caricatures, digital graphics, and slogans that took aim at Elon Musk and the new Trump administration.

Later on Saturday, I attended another protest outside a mall in Troy, Michigan, with a Tesla showroom. The gathering was smaller, closer to 150 attendees, but more spirited.

I noticed that the crowd in Ann Arbor and Troy were primarily people over the age of 65, white, and retired from jobs that depended on public funding as teachers, professors at local universities, and social workers.

They leaned left on the political spectrum. Some described themselves as “Anti-Trump” or “Anti-Republican” or “Pro-Democracy.”

Others said they had made a pronounced shift from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party in their younger years. As appalled as they were with the current administration, though, I noticed they were also disillusioned with the Democrats in power.

Protesters at the Tesla Takedown demonstrations on Saturday came with a host of signs. Nic Antaya for Business Insider

The protests were among more than 200 scheduled to take place outside Tesla showrooms nationwide on Saturday. These gatherings are part of “Tesla Takedown,” an effort that began in February and describes itself as a “peaceful protest movement” that is “taking action at Tesla to stop Musk’s illegal coup.”

In Troy, protesters lined up on the sidewalk outside the mall and interacted with the cars driving in and out of the parking lot. On the handful of times a Cybertruck passed through, the protesters booed, and the passengers honked in an unspoken battle of ideology — and taste in cars.

A protester spars with a Cybertruck driver at the Tesla Takedown demonstration in Troy, Michigan. Nic Antaya for Business Insider

Since Donald Trump began his second term and appointed Musk as senior advisor, Musk has made drastic changes to the federal government in the name of efficiency. He’s recruited a band of tech veterans, consultants, and lawyers to DOGE to help him slash spending and jobs across several federal agencies.

Under the new administration, diversity, equity, and inclusion programs have been cut. Student loan programs are also subject to change as Trump moves to dismantle the Department of Education.

Between the two protests I attended, I chatted with more than 20 people about what drove them to action on a rainy Saturday. The answer was almost unanimous. They feared that the middle class, minorities, and future generations were being silenced by the whims of billionaires in the Oval Office.

“We’ve never had people in government who actually are trying to destroy our government, literally, and actually working at it, and being bald-faced about it,” said 73-year-old Maria Marcotte, the mother of Michigan congresswoman Haley Stevens, who was protesting in Troy.

In Ann Arbor, one woman who asked not to be named told me that this is a “core assault on democracy.” She said there’s been a “loss of all democratic norms, institutions, rule of law — it’s terrifying.” She added, “I’m pretty old. I’ve lived through some rough periods, you know the Vietnam Era, but nothing like this.”

Several people in Ann Arbor said that Musk didn’t concern them before he stepped into politics. Now that he’s working with Trump, though, they said he’s more erratic than they ever realized.

“I was a big fan originally. I wanted to buy a Tesla,” 69-year-old Judah Garber told me. “I’m really most concerned now with his actions in his unelected role as, you know, a random people-cutter,” he said.

Margaret Bialecki, 68, a protester in Ann Arbor said the combination of Donald Trump and Elon Musk is “dangerous.” Nic Antaya for Business Insider

At the core of any protest is the question of who and what will feel the impact. Several attendees told me that the most achievable goal of these demonstrations is to influence the people passing by, their neighbors, and those who are one degree removed from it all.

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Gus Teschke, the organizer of the Ann Arbor chapter of Indivisible, a grassroots organization for progressive causes that helped mobilize several protesters on Saturday, said the camaraderie felt positive, at least.

“It’s a party out here,” Teschke said.