The Cybertruck – an angular, stainless steel vehicle that looks like it belongs in the props department for a futuristic film set in a technocratic utopia – elicits a wide range of reactions.
In Durango, Cybertruck owners say they’ve experienced it all.
“I get flipped off on a regular basis,” said Ted Hermesman, who has owned his Cybertruck for about a year.
Although reactions are often negative, Hermesman and other local owners say they have no plans to stop driving their trucks. For them, the Cybertruck is a feat of engineering – not the political statement many outside observers believe it to be.
“If people are, you know, dumb enough and stupid enough to do that kind of stuff, it just shows you what their IQ capabilities are,” he said of the harassment.
Since purchasing the vehicle about a year ago – although he prefers people call it a robot – Jeremy Barker said he has been given the thumbs-up, been flipped off and received the Nazi salute while driving around town and the surrounding area.
People have even written offensive words into the thin layer of dust on the side of his vehicle.
At the Burning Man festival, Barker said he returned to his robot to find the word “(feminine hygiene product) canoe,” etched onto its hood.
After a lunch outing with his 9-year-old son in Durango, the two returned to the vehicle to find “Nazi” scrawled on the side.
“He (my son) sees this place where somebody had written with their finger ‘Nazi’ on the side of my car, on my truck, and I see his face go from happy to just like worry,” Barker said. “And I know it’s a simple, maybe small thing, but when you see a child who has something that they love and when you see someone do something to that, and you see what it squishes – that is heartbreaking. And that was the day I taught my son what a Nazi was.”
James Dempsey, another Durango-area Cybertruck owner, emphasized that the truck is not about politics.
“I’m not a hateful person. I have a family. I’m friendly, and I actually enjoy showing people – especially those who doubt it or dislike it – the interior, how it works and what it can do,” he said. “We’re just normal people, like anybody else. I think some folks assume Cybertruck owners are rich. I’m definitely not rich. I just decided this was the car I wanted, and it fit what I needed.”
The Cybertruck is a product of Tesla, the electric vehicle and clean energy company founded by Elon Musk, who has become a polarizing figure in recent years.
Musk aligned himself with President Donald Trump during the 2024 election cycle and emerged as a key figure in the campaign. Until recently, he led the Department of Government Efficiency, the controversial federal organization tasked with slashing government spending and eliminating waste.
As Musk’s public profile has grown more political, so has the symbolism attached to his vehicles. On the road, Teslas are viewed as signaling support for the current administration or as a canvas for people to project their own political beliefs onto.
A Cybertruck packed with explosives was detonated outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas. In Kansas City, four Cybertrucks were set on fire at a Tesla dealership. And there have been countless reports of vandalized Tesla cars, defaced with swastikas and other hate symbols.
But that hasn’t deterred Barker or Hermesman from driving and enjoying their trucks.
“These things are just better in every way. Yeah, they break the idea of what people think a truck is supposed to be, but what these are capable of doing – it’s just a different game,” Barker said.
Cybertrucks have full self-driving capabilities, regenerative braking that generates energy to charge the battery, and a function that automatically lifts the truck for off-roading. When fully charged, the vehicle can power a home for about three days, Barker said.
Additionally, it has high-resolution cameras that capture a 360-degree view of the truck’s surroundings – and anyone who decides to vandalize it.
Barker admitted that when he finally got his hands on the vehicle after a three-year wait, he was somewhat excited to see how people would react.
“(I was thinking) I can’t wait for somebody to come along and mess with me. I could use the finances. If a person wants to be that dumb, that’s like throwing money at me,” he said. “It’s just sort of the silver lining.”
Dempsey, while he shares Barker’s and Hermesman’s appreciation for the truck, has taken a slightly different approach.
“I absolutely love the car. It’s super fun to drive, and I like weird, different things,” he said. “But as far as hate – from Day One, I would get middle fingers, thumbs-down.”
The frequency of those interactions increased in the months after the presidential election, Dempsey said.
In March, while visiting Albuquerque, he saw a Tesla dealership that had been heavily vandalized. Several Cybertrucks appeared to have been damaged by explosions or fire.
Soon after, Dempsey and his partner decided to stop driving the truck with their kids in it, in case the vehicle was targeted.
“The kids love to ride in it and they love being in it. But I don’t want to put them in danger because of some person who was a little overzealous about their opinions,” he said.
Dempsey also owns Wagon Wheel Liquor. For a while, he drove the Cybertruck to work, parking it out front. But in the months after the election, he decided to stop, in case it was turning away customers.
For him, it’s not a political statement – it’s just a cool car – but Dempsey is aware of what it may unintentionally signal to others.
“There’s a fair amount of people in this town that don’t like Donald Trump and don’t like Elon Musk,” he said.
But at the end of the day, Barker, Dempsey and Hermesman agree: They didn’t buy the Cybertruck to make a political statement – they just really like what it can do.
“It had nothing to do with politics,” Hermesman said. “I bought it strictly because I thought it would work with the lifestyle that I had.”
jbowman@durangoherald.com
