This time, a small group of counter protesters joined the fray targeting the area’s only Tesla dealership.
By Johannes Werner
Original Air Date: March 19, 2025
Host: This Saturday, Sarasota saw the second version of the Tesla Takedown, again on the sidewalk facing the area’s only Tesla dealership. The numbers were bigger than during the initial rally, with clearly more than 200 protesters crowding the sidewalk of the three blocks between the UTC mall and I-75. There was one added element: A group of maybe a half-dozen counter protesters joined the fray. WSLR News was there.
Wendy Wicks holds up her “Hands off Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid” sign.
Johannes Werner: Protester Wendy Wicks was among the crowd, waving a sign to motorists on busy University Parkway. It said “Hands off Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid.”
Wendy Wicks: The message is that the government is supposed to be funding these—it’s not even entitlements. These are things that we’ve been paying into for years. I paid my Social Security from the time I was 16 years old. I’ve been on Medicare now for ten years. I’m assuming that it’ll still be here in ten years. I want to make sure that it is.
“Honk for democracy.”
JW: Invited by We Are Indivisible Sarasota and Indivisible Manatee, more protesters joined this time, and it seems to have encouraged organizer Jeff Fox to turn the Tesla Takedown into a routine affair.
Fox posted on his Facebook page that the next protest will happen on Sunday, March 30, next to a meme that said “Tesla stock fell to 225. 120 or bust.”
“Stand up to billionaires.”
Adding a new element to the Tesla Takedown, the Hollow 2a Facebook group called to join a counterprotest at the same location. The Hollow, a compound in nearby Englewood with links to the right-wing Proud Boy organization tags itself as Southwest Florida’s Sanctuary of Freedom. Six counter protesters came with flags, mingling with the much larger crowd. One of the counter protesters, a man in his forties, yelled at the protesters, who did not respond.
There was no visible police presence throughout the event.
“No one voted for Elon Musk.”
Wally Goodnough tried to circle his pro-Trump trailer in a restaurant parking lot behind the protesters. But he was shooed away from the private land by mall security, saying he was not allowed to advertise on the property. His trailer shows a big picture of the current president next to the likenesses of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama behind bars. We caught up with him in another mall parking lot two blocks away from the Tesla Takedown.
Wally Goodnough: To stand for our president and stand for Elon Musk, who are taking care of this country and getting rid of wasted money. Those people over there protesting against Tesla have Nazi flags and all that kind of crap on their side. “Don’t be a Nazi.” This and that. We’re peaceful. We haven’t done a thing.
Bob Wallace and Wally Goodnough pose with Goodnough’s pro-Trump trailer.
JW: He suggested his right to free speech was being restricted by mall security and protesters he claims are violent. He says his tires were slashed and his truck was spat on when he was driving along the protesting crowd with his Trump trailer during a Presidents’ Day rally in Sarasota. We could not independently verify his claim.
Standing next to the trailer owner was Bob Wallace. He said he was recently told by Manatee Sheriff’s deputies to leave a public park for flying a “Trump for Florida” flag.
Reporting for WSLR News, Johannes Werner.
WSLR News aims to keep the local community informed with our 1/2 hour local news show, quarterly newspaper and social media feeds. The local news broadcast airs on Wednesdays and Fridays at 6pm.