I understand that Donald Trump was elected to better manage our borders and curb left-wing wokeism. But have no illusions: Trump’s right-wing wokeism — impugning electric vehicles and renewable energy because they don’t conform to MAGA ideology and aren’t manly enough — is as devoid of common sense and not remotely in the national interest as any left-wing cultural wokeism.h3pg
It’s not even in the interest of his own base: The five states with the largest share of wind power in America are red states. They generated at least a third of their power from wind. This is geography, not politics: Rural districts across the middle of America have the most solar and wind energy potential. They know it and are taking advantage of it — even if they vote Republican.
Most important: If Trump’s all-in-on-fossil-fuels, “drill, baby, drill” rallying cry — at the dawn of this era of artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, batteries and autonomous cars — really becomes our strategy, it will not make America great again. But it will definitely help make China great again.
Indeed, when Trump declared in his Inaugural Address that he planned to propel Americans to Mars, the first vision that popped into my head was of a U.S. astronaut landing on the red planet and being met there by a Chinese astronaut, asking, “What took you so long?”
Hey, Friedman, why do you keep comparing America and China?
It’s certainly not because I’d prefer to live there or have its problems, which are many and deep, particularly in banking. No, it’s because, despite its problems, China still knows how to make big stuff — often with sheer force from the top down,66jogo usually buttressed by massive government support but also often by common-sense planning and, more often than we’d like to believe from an authoritarian system, by creative innovation.
China is also not so silly as to treat one form of electricity generation as more conservative, liberal or Maoist than another. In the end, the outputs are all just electrons. They have no politics. All Beijing cares about is which is most abundant, efficient, cheap and clean.
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Nisha and I spent a college summer abroad in India together, two 19-year-olds thirsty for knowledge. In rickshaws, buses and trains we explored our hopes, dreams (and fantasies) against the seductive backdrop of the land of our ancestors. Twenty-four years, two spouses and five children later, unknown to each other we both decided to pursue masters degrees at the exact same time. We graduated within one week of one another and decided to celebrate in London and Paris, two 40-something-women, still thirsty for knowledge, still on buses and trains, still with hopes and dreams (and some fantasies). Still together. — Milli Shah Bhashyam
On Thursday, the party’s Senate campaign arm announced that it was making a “multimillion-dollar” investment in television advertising in two red states where it is holding out hope of defeating two Republican incumbents, Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Rick Scott of Florida.
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