What Lamar Alexander Did To Hurt Middle Class Americans
The corporate media spent part of last week trotting out retired RINO Sen. Lamar Alexander to trash President Donald Trump.
Alexander’s supporters are all over social media calling him the gold standard for what a Republican is supposed to represent.
But is he really? Especially considering how much time he spent in office pushing government-backed subsidies for electric vehicles (EVs)?
The New York Times recently published a story titled Lamar Alexander Wants Republicans to Stand Up to Trump.
Well, you can glean from the title and the source alone how this article is going to go. Alexander says Trump “committed an impeachable offense on Jan. 6 and called on Congress to assert its power” and take him down.
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Alexander has a new book to sell.
Rather than reach out to Fox News or another conservative-friendly outlet, Alexander’s publicity team naturally reaches out to the far-left New York Times.
The NYT flattered Alexander and called him a “careful statesman” who worked “closely with President Barack Obama.”
Remember, Alexander is (supposedly) a Republican.
I was a reporter in Tennessee for 10 of the 18 years Alexander served in the Senate. Republicans throughout the state largely despised him and couldn’t understand how and why he kept winning reelection every six years. They were overjoyed when Alexander announced his retirement and counted down the days until he was gone for good.
During his three terms, Alexander defeated GOP challengers in primaries because he had wealthy donors and a massive campaign war chest. Blue collar and middle-class Tennesseans had no other choice but to vote for him in the general election. Tennessee is a deep red state, and voters there will not elect a Democrat to the Senate.
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Alexander’s voters wanted him to show up to work wearing a pair of brass knuckles, ready for a street fight. Instead he played Patty Cake with the Left.
Alexander had a strange fixation with the government playing favorites with EV manufacturers. He wanted tax credits for EVs. Alexander said taxpayer money should fund EV charging stations, even though there wasn’t enough of a demand to justify the expense.
Taxpayer advocate groups told Alexander flat out that he was betraying conservative principles.
Veronique de Rugy, writing for the Mercatus Center at George Mason University at the time, said 80 percent of those utilizing Alexander’s EV tax credit had incomes over $100,000. As de Rugy went on to say, that makes “it not just a corporate handout but also a transfer from all workers to wealthier Americans.”
“Because all personal vehicles in the United States account for only a small fraction of global greenhouse gas emissions, even an unrealistic influx of electric vehicles would prove to be negligible,” de Rugy wrote.
“Besides, standard internal combustion engines emit far less pollution today than they have in the past. Simply replacing older cars can do as much or more to benefit the environment than even entirely switching over to electric vehicles.”
Trump, upon assuming his second term in office, wisely ended federal tax credits for the purchase of new and used EVs.
Perhaps that is what has Alexander’s panties in a twist?
Either way, Alexander is an out-of-touch RINO whose perspective doesn’t count for much with grassroots voters. Those voters certainly don’t read The New York Times and certainly don’t care enough to buy his new book. If there was ever a gold standard for a Republican to try to meet, it certainly isn’t Alexander.
Warhammer is a journalist with more than 20 years or professional experience. Follow Warhammer on Twitter @Real_Warhammer.
