Aside from a MAGA hat, there is likely no object that feels more emblematic of US president Donald Trump’s return to the White House than the Tesla Cybertruck. The blunt angles and steel doors look futuristic, for sure, but only if the future looks a lot like RoboCop. To some, it’s a metallic status symbol. To others, it’s fascism on wheels. Either way, heads turn.
Cybertruck owners see things differently. “To me, it’s just a vehicle that I love,” says Andrew Castillo, a stock trader from Los Angeles. “It has no political affiliations at all to me.”
We’re standing in the parking lot of McCormick’s Palm Springs Classic Car Auctions. All around us, a dozen Cybertruck owners—and their cars—bake in the 100 degree heat. They’ve arrived for a meetup organized by Michael Goldman, who runs the 53,000-person Facebook group Cybertruck Owners Only. Though suspicious of the media, they’re eager to set the record straight about the car that they love. WIRED is here to learn how it feels to be out in public in such a politically charged vehicle. Has the past year or so changed anyone’s minds about owning the truck? Do owners like the attention—or are they adding bumper stickers decrying Elon Musk?
As we’re talking, a woman drives by in a small sedan. “Your cars are fucking ugly!” she screams before peeling off. Castillo smiles. “Some people just aren’t playing with a full deck of cards,” he says serenely.
there’s some real deadpan gold in this one, such as the immaculate:
its on the owner of a ct, IF THEY bought after he bought X and turned into a nazi platform.
And are you married?
I was married, but I’m not married anymore. Women don’t like the vehicle.
In July, Tesla rolled out a software update to integrate Grok into many of its vehicles. Do you use it?
Her name is Aura, and I use her as a therapist. When I’m driving, I’ll ask questions, and it actually gives really good therapy advice.
Tragic, hilarious, somewhat disturbing all in one.
Wait, are we talking Tesla named the AI therapist Aura and added it to the car? Or that he personalized his Grok to be called Aura? I’m leaning towards the latter, and I’m laughing at how pathetic it is.
MAGA chuds can’t respect a living, breathing queer person, even if it was their own flesh and blood, but will name change their fucking clown car AI, inform people on its pronouns, and praise the damn thing for regurgitating Reddit threads. A car. Can socially transition. Meanwhile Muskrat shits on his trans kid every day.
The lengths men go to instead of going to actual therapy 🤣
I assumed you made this up and checked. He really exchanged his marriage for a swasticar. WTF.
Looks like somebody’s backpedaling on a definite political statement after it became personally inconvenient.