Arizona Billboard Blasts Trump and Musk: ‘Screwing The American People’

On a highway in Arizona is a new billboard criticizing the Trump administration for “screwing the American people.”

The double-sided billboard, which is privately owned by activist and artist Beatrice Moore, depicts Elon Musk holding President Donald Trump as a puppet on one side with the words: “Project 2025: Trump, Musk and Enablers, are shredding the Constitution and screwing the American people. Funded on behalf of the 77.89 million citizens who voted for someone other than Trump.”

The other side shows Trump in prison garb surrounded by two mushroom clouds and dollar signs which look like swastikas.

The artworks on the billboard are by artist Karen Fiorito and are called “Twitler and Putin’s Puppet Do Washington” and “Liar-in-Chief.”

Newsweek contacted Fiorito for comment via email.

Trump Elon Musk — President Donald Trump listens to Elon Musk speaking in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington.

Alex Brandon/AP Photo

Why It Matters

Billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO Musk is depicted as puppeteering President Donald Trump with his arm raised, capturing the moment he made a salute that was deemed fascist by many at Trump’s inauguration.

Trump was accused of being Musk’s puppet following Musk’s multimillion-dollar donations to the Trump campaign. The criticism intensified after Trump used his office to promote Tesla.

Over half of Americans have an unfavorable opinion of Musk, and his wide-sweeping cuts to the federal workforce via his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have become a hot-button issue at town halls in Republican districts.

What To Know

Arizona swung for Trump in 2024, but also elected Democrat Ruben Gallego to its open Senate seat.

The installation, which can be found on Phoenix’s Grand Avenue between 10th and 11th avenues, went up in early March.

It not only depicts Trump as a puppet and shows fascist imagery, but also references the controversial Project 2025 900-page document by the Heritage Foundation which Trump swore he knew nothing about while campaigning.

Since taking office, Trump has hired multiple writers and contributors to the Conservative manifesto, and implemented many of its policies including withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord, increasing immigration raids and implementing a federal hiring freeze.

Trump adviser Musk was accused of doing a “Roman Salute,” as was Steve Bannon at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

Trump also recently “re-Truthed” an opinion piece from the Washington Examiner which included an image of an upside-down pink triangle, a Nazi symbol for singling out gay men in concentration camps.

In 2016, JD Vance called Trump “America’s Hitler.” He is now serving as his vice- president.

The billboard’s depiction of Trump comes after he not only used his position to buy a Tesla and stage a Tesla photo shoot in front of the White House, but also declared on Truth Social that boycotting or protesting the cars would count as “domestic terrorism.”

Trump Musk Cybertruck — U.S. President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk next to a Tesla Cybertruck on the South Portico of the White House on March 11, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

While the billboard is intended to resist Trump, it says it is there on behalf of the 77.89 people who did not vote for him, not the 74.999 million people who voted for Harris.

Many Harris voters were frustrated with third-party voters who they believe essentially voted for Trump by failing to vote for the only other viable candidate.

The artwork on the billboard is privately funded by Moore through her Grand Avenue Billboard Project. She told the Arizona Republic that it is nice to own her own space so she can display images that may be too controversial for company-owned billboards.

This is not the first anti-Trump poster to appear on the Grand Avenue billboard. The same Trump dollar-sign swastika piece was on display there in 2021.

The billboard has displayed other political works in the past, such as supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, and encouraging people to go vote.

What People Are Saying

Beatrice Moore, owner of the billboard, told the Arizona Republic: “It’s a good feeling that somebody’s speaking out in a very visual way. No, we’re not afraid of you…This is symbolic, to take him down now after the election.”

Karen Fiorito told the Arizona Republic: “We put up this billboard as a literal sign of resistance to Elon Musk and the Trump regime. Those who resist Project 2025 and its implications must stand together and not comply in advance.”