Grandma Brigade holds its first protest in Costa Mesa to ‘stop the Musk takeover’

A small but determined group of women gathered Saturday afternoon in Costa Mesa carrying signs decrying the White House’s insertion of billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, into federal affairs.

Stationing themselves in front of the Tesla showroom and service center on Pullman Street, the loosely knit group calling themselves the Grandma Brigade were there “as part of the global effort to stop the Musk takeover,” according to organizer Debbie Marsteller.

“We want people supporting Tesla [one of Musk’s companies] to know they’re supporting an authoritarian takeover of democracy, she said. “We’re going to have to do something while we still can, even as our rights are slowly pulled away.”

The retired 70-year-old Costa Mesan said the Grandma Brigade, comprised of like-minded local residents who are roughly between the ages of 50 and 80, is just getting started. Members of her group have the time and resources to put up a fight, she said, and feel the responsibility to do so.

Although many members of the Grandma Brigade have been active in politics since they were teens, Saturday’s protest was their first foray as a group. But it won’t be their last; they are in it “for the duration,” Marsteller said.

“We’ve spoken out, we’ve had marches. Now we have to really go after the economy of Elon Musk. That’s all he cares about. Trump and Musk don’t care about us. They are here to fleece us,” she said, adding her group is concerned the cuts being made by DOGE will impact the most vulnerable populations first.

“We’re joining together with different progressive groups in our area. We haven’t moved to civil disobedience yet, but we probably will eventually.”