Trump in Detroit as Sock Puppet for Fossil Fuel Industry

The fossil fuel strategy around EVs is to cast them as some kind of evil plot by the Chinese Communist Party, something, something, take over America, something something, all the jobs to China, something something.
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain is having none of it, above.

Detroit News:

Republican Donald Trump railed against electric vehicles during a campaign stop in suburban Detroit Wednesday night, saying they’re too expensive, aren’t capable of traveling far enough and would spur job losses for Americans.

Trump, a former president who’s seeking to challenge current Democratic President Joe Biden next year, made the comments during a speech at Drake Enterprises, a parts supplier in Clinton Township. Amid a historic strike by the United Auto Workers against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, Trump said: “Your current negotiations don’t mean as much as you think.”

Trump argued that regardless of the outcome of the strike, the bigger threat to employees was the shift to electric cars and trucks, which he described as a “hit job” on Michigan and Detroit.

“You can be loyal to American labor or you can be loyal to the environmental lunatics,” Trump said at one point. “But you can’t really be loyal to both. It’s one or the other.”

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About 400 to 500 Trump supporters were inside a Drake Enterprises facility for the speech. Drake Enterprises employs about 150 people, and the UAW doesn’t represent its workforce. It wasn’t clear how many auto workers were in the crowd for the speech, which was targeted at them.

One individual in the crowd who held a sign that said “union members for Trump,” acknowledged that she wasn’t a union member when approached by a Detroit News reporter after the event. Another person with a sign that read “auto workers for Trump” said he wasn’t an auto worker when asked for an interview. Both people didn’t provide their names.

While Trump has had some success in attracting working people across Michigan and the Midwest, there is an unmistakable tone of skepticism this time around among those blue collar workers.

Fun Facts that Shawn Fain and the UAW leadership probably understand:

General Motors sells more cars today in China than in the US.

Globally, and in China, a majority of consumers expect and want to by EV or hybrid vehicles:

Electrek:

In a survey of 13,000 people in 18 countries, car buyers in Italy (73%), China (69%), and South Korea (63%) are the most committed to buying an EV. Consumers in Australia (38%) and the US (29%) are the least committed.

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So, to survive, US automakers MUST have sustained sales of EVs, reach more foreign markets, and at the same time convince US consumers to adopt EVs in the face of a concerted disinformation campaign by the petroleum industry, it’s Fox News megaphone, and sockpuppet, Donald Trump.

Below, an ad from Republican Congressman John James of Michigan, pitches the “bad for US jobs” talking point.

Also part of the same program, a nationwide campaign of “China China” scare stories has been mounted against newly proposed battery production plants in Michigan and elsewhere.
What I’ve noticed is that Facebook pages that are hotbeds of anti-wind, and anti-solar activity, have pivoted to anti-battery production, and many of the same folks who traveled miles to show up wherever clean energy is being considered, now are showing up to shout down support for battery production at several sites around the state.
In west Michigan, hiring is getting started in support of a Battery facility by Gotion Inc, but only after substantial pushback from social media enflamed activists.