Oddball leftists routinely engage in anti-social behavior, but a recent spate of attacks on Teslas may have ensnared a new cohort.
Chadd Ritenbaugh, 55, who appeared to be an average middle-aged man, was allegedly caught in the act of carving a swastika into another person’s Tesla at a Doylestown, Pennsylvania, Planet Fitness, the New York Post reported.
In footage captured by the vehicle’s sentry camera, a man police identified as Ritenbaugh was seen exiting his vehicle, which was parked next to the Tesla, and using something to mark up the electric vehicle.
The video of the incident was shared on social media platform X Friday by influencer Collin Rugg, who claimed the alleged vandal is the owner of a car service in the upscale Bucks County area.
JUST IN: 55-year-old Chadd Ritenbaugh busted for allegedly carving a swastika on a Tesla outside of Planet Fitness in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
The anti-Semite was seen sneaking around the car, not realizing it was recording him the whole time.
According to what appears to be… pic.twitter.com/kbcXR8FhVY
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 28, 2025
However, when confronted, the alleged perpetrator’s steely resolve as a member of the resistance against Elon Musk, Telsa CEO and leader of the Department of Government Efficiency, dissolved completely.
In a video of that exchange, the man first claimed that the swastika was nothing more than a crayon mark and offered to “wipe it off with a towel.”
The person filming the video continued to press him about the markings and repeatedly asked if what he had drawn was indeed a swastika.
While the accused vandal never confirmed it, he eventually offered a mealy-mouthed apology for his “misguided” actions.
“I’m sorry. I have nothing against your car, and I have nothing against you,” the man said, with his face locked in a hangdog expression.
“Obviously, I have something against Elon Musk,” he adds.
In a final feeble attempt to excuse his actions, the man claimed he “did not intend to do this,” as if he crouched and scrawled on another person’s car completely by accident.
Rugg shared the video of that exchange on Monday, though it’s unclear how much time elapsed between the incident and the confrontation. It’s also unknown whether the man filming the video was the vehicle’s co-owner (PhillyBurbs.com reported it was a woman whose Tesla had been marked up).
NEW: Man confronted after drawing a swastika on a Tesla, tries offering the man “free service” through his car service company.
How kind of him!
The man appears to be 55-year-old Chadd Ritenbaugh who was busted last week for allegedly carving a swastika on a Tesla in Bucks… pic.twitter.com/38kPcMAslB
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 31, 2025
Central Bucks Regional Police Department said they quickly identified Ritenbaugh from the Tesla sentry footage and his Planet Fitness membership. They charged the suspect with criminal mischief, disorderly conduct, and two counts of harassment.
The Philadelphia Inquirer contacted Ritenbaugh’s attorney, Paul Lang, for comment after the incident.
“My client is a proud father, longtime resident, and is currently undergoing cancer treatment,” Lang told the news outlet via text message.
“We will reserve further comment pending the outcome of the case,” Lang added.
While there’s no shortage of the usual suspects committing these crimes against Teslas — garden-variety weirdos and the gender confused — there are also people who appear to be otherwise normal initiating these attacks.
In another video, Fox News host Sean Hannity and others shared widely on X, a woman scratched something into the side of a Tesla as one of the two school-aged children accompanying her flipped the middle finger at the camera.
This mother vandalized a Tesla right in front of her children in Arden Hills, MN pic.twitter.com/qpheXNR0D0
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) April 3, 2025
Of all the social contagions that have ripped through the progressive population, this one is most unsettling because of the ease with which people have been programmed to so flippantly destroy others’ property.
While it’s quite entertaining to see an accused vandal become a simpering coward when confronted, his spinelessness underscores how this is not the usual sociopath with a devil-may-care attitude about racking up criminal charges.
He is an otherwise nondescript guy who seems nervous about getting in trouble, even if he’s not exactly remorseful for his alleged actions.
This is concerning in the big picture, as it points to a malignancy spreading among those on the left.
Something has snapped in their brains to cause them to (allegedly, of course) damage a stranger’s property to punish Musk, who is several degrees removed from the consumers who drive his Teslas.
People like these Tesla vandals wrongly believe that etching a swastika into a car already purchased from Musk’s company — many of whom likely did so over environmental concerns — will impact the world’s richest man.
They’re not even entirely sure whether they hate him because he’s rich, because he’s cutting government spending, or because the media told them Musk was giving Nazi salutes.
Something dark and disturbing is happening in the minds of these people that’s causing them to commit random crimes — and these latest examples represent just a couple of countless gullible cowards apparently caught up in it.
