Former president Donald Trump claimed transitioning to electric vehicles would “decimate” Michigan in a speech Sunday night in Novi as he accepted the Oakland County Republican Party’s “man of the decade” award.
“The push for all electric cars, it’s killing the United State, it’s killing Michigan and it’s a total vote for China,” Trump said during his hour-long address. “(U.S. President Joe) Biden is a catastrophe for Michigan and his environmental extremism is heartless and disloyal and horrible for the American worker and you’re starting to see, driven by his ridiculous regulations.”
Oakland County’s party, one of the state’s largest, used the Lincoln Day Dinner to bestow Trump with the award before a sold-out crowd of at least 2,500 at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi.
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Trump blasted the state government’s approval, led by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, of more than $700 million in economic development incentives for a $2.4-billion battery plant outside Big Rapids.
“The governor of your state is now giving away hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of billions of Michigan taxpayer dollars to Chinese companies and one in particular, Gotion, to build batteries in Michigan,” Trump said. “That sounds good, but the money’s going to Chinese companies, and then they’re gonna leave, they’re planning to take our money and then they say ‘bye bye, you stupid fools.’”
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Michigan has aggressively courted electric vehicle projects, often with bipartisan support, using billions in economic development dollars in competition against other states for major manufacturing campuses that promise thousands of jobs.
Gotion’s project, in particular, has drawn heavy criticism from some due to the company’s foreign ownership.
Trump waxed nostalgic about all that he had done for Michigan as president, touting his record and crediting his administration for the state’s strong economic position.
There is a resurgence of manufacturing on U.S. soil, Trump said, “it’s happening right here in Michigan, and this has nothing to do with the Democrats.”
He slammed electric vehicles, saying “the cars don’t go far,” and “you know, some people like to drive more than an hour and a half.”
In a characteristically wide-ranging speech, Trump also attacked his Republican presidential primary rivals, President Joe Biden, the news media, China, transgender athletes and undocumented migrants.
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