By Noobs @Adobe Stock
Executive Malpractice
President Joe Biden is dancing to the sound emitting from a small but boisterous progressive constituency – the climate lobby. Largely “affluent city-dwellers—a white-collar elite – make up the climate lobby. “Climate is their First World problem, and they are going to vote for Mr. Biden anyway,” Kimberley Strassel reminds readers in the WSJ.
This week’s Environmental Protection Agency tailpipe rule amounts to an imminent ban on gasoline-powered cars, never mind the soothing language of “incentivizing” a “transition.” Last year, 84% of all cars sold in America were powered by internal-combustion engines. By 2027, the government will restrict that share to 64%. In eight years, the cap will be 29%. High demand for the few gasoline vehicles still made at that point will drive up prices, making them unattainable to anyone but a limousine liberal. It’s a ban.
According to the White House, the automotive industry is all on board. Not exactly, writes Ms. Strassel. Peek behind the razzle-dazzle and you get a look at an administration with a gun to the heads of carmakers.
Ford and General Motors can either beg politely for more subsidies or confront reality and express disapproval, in which case they’ll get nothing. The United Auto Workers leadership—stuck with its Biden endorsement—dug deep to produce a few words expressing support, bracketed by hundreds more explaining that when all this goes wrong for its members it will somehow be Wall Street’s fault.
Who’s Not on Board
Everybody else.
The White House press release touting its “historic progress” in electric cars struggled to quote any powerful players beyond the Environmental Defense Fund and Al Gore. Auto dealers—still powerful political players in many congressional districts—are actively campaigning against the rule, and more than 5,000 recently sent a letter to the White House decrying the rule as “completely unrealistic.” Manufacturers think it’s nuts. State attorneys general are gearing up to sue.
Asked by pollster Scott Rasmussen how respondents view new “regulations that would effectively outlaw the manufacture and sale of gasoline-powered cars,” results were not promising.
- Only 14% were strongly in favor.
- Nearly 60% were opposed.
- A slight majority of Democratic voters (53%) favored the idea.
- 59% of independents and 76% of Republicans opposed it.
- Among income groups, only those earning more than $150,000 a year had majority support (51%).
America Loves Her Trucks
The Biden administration has issued all manner of destructive environmental rules, but many center on obscure words like “ambient air quality” or “polyfluoroalkyl substances,” continues Ms. Strassel. “Cars and trucks? Americans understand those—and love them.”
(Americans) understand that no Tesla is going to function in the bitter cold of a Wisconsin or Alaska winter; no Ford Lightning will manage the work of a Montana ranch or a Kansas farm. They understand a ban means the end of entire lifestyles that require reliability, distance and towing power—boating, hunting, off-roading, camping, snow-machining, horse hauling. The White House may not be able to tell a toy hauler from a travel trailer, but millions of Americans can and do—and won’t give either up without a fight.
Unease in the House
(Donald Trump’s) campaign immediately trashed the rule as a diktat that will “force Americans to buy ultra-expensive cars they do not want and cannot afford while destroying the U.S. auto industry.” Just wait until he gets around to the bumper-sticker formula: “They’re coming for your truck.” An energy trade group has already been up with ads making that point in swing states, calling on Americans to reject Biden’s “EPA car ban.”
Defections among House Democrats, although not large, are notable in a Democratic caucus that “maintains zero tolerance for dissent.”
Republicans are already rushing to force Democrats to defend and protect the Biden ban specifically, with votes in both the House and Senate to kill the rule under the Congressional Review Act.
Today’s Democratic Party is entirely dedicated to the proposition that all Americans should be told how to live. Yet rarely are its leaders so baldly open with their intentions. Mr. Biden has helpfully clarified that this election will directly decide what choices—if any—Americans have going forward. That’s a powerful club to hand the opposition.
