A Disturbance in the Force

Reno Ruffles Feathers at Musk

On Saturday, a small but spirited congregation of agitated citizens descended upon South Virginia Street near the Tesla dealership, hoisting signs and hollering grievances against one Mr. Elon Musk—a man who, if he harbored a dime for every controversy he stirred, could purchase the very moon itself and rent it out to tourists.

The gathering was part of a grander affair, a “global day of protest” against the billionaire’s rather creative approach to governance, which, in collaboration with President Donald Trump and a peculiar currency named DOGE, has involved the wholesale dismantling of federal departments and the brisk unemployment of tens of thousands.

Reports tell us that similar demonstrations sprouted in locales far and wide—from the rain-drenched streets of Seattle to the towering steel canyons of New York City, not to mention the hallowed grounds of London, where even the most prim and proper found cause to shake their fists.

In Reno, the protest received its share of digital drum-beating from Northern Nevada Veterans for Change, which sounded the call on Reddit—where young philosophers and irate citizens gather to decide the world’s fate from the comfort of their recliners. The result was a turnout of several dozen souls, who, perhaps not striking terror into the heart of Musk, at least managed to slow traffic.

Opponents of the protest, meanwhile, had no shortage of opinions, insisting that Musk’s unorthodox methods were nothing short of divine intervention for a government long plagued by the parasites of waste and fraud. After all, it was Musk who created the mighty Gigafactory in Storey County in 2014, providing employment and prosperity.

Had his Boring Company not tunneled beneath Las Vegas, solving the age-old problem of too much sunlight and too little subterranean travel? And had he not, in a fit of pique against Delaware’s judicial meddling, relocated Neuralink to Nevada, thereby blessing the state with the dubious honor of housing the headquarters for experimental brain chips?

In the end, the battle lines are drawn—on one side, those who see Musk as a modern-day Prometheus, bestowing the fires of technology upon the world; on the other, those who see him as a reckless tinkerer, unfastening the nuts and bolts of civilization with a Tesla-branded wrench. For now, the only certainty is that the protests will rage, Musk will tweet, and somewhere, deep within the neon glow of Nevada, a self-driving car will be utterly unimpressed by it all.