It’s truly newsworthy when a Democrat politician has the nerve to step out of line and criticize his or her own party, particularly when it involves somewhat defending Elon Musk (R?-Galaxy), the left’s newest Public Enemy No. 1, and ripping on Gavin Newsom (D-CA), who’s thought to be a Democrat frontrunner for the 2028 presidential nomination.
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Like John Fetterman (D-PA) does occasionally in the Senate, Rep. Mo Khanna (D-CA) every once in a while parts with the party line and speaks up on behalf of his constituents. Such is the case with Newsom’s plan, which he rolled out on Monday, to exclude Tesla owners in his state from receiving rebates for electric vehicles (EVs). Here are the dirty details:
California’s defunct Clean Vehicle Rebate Program offered rebates on electric cars as high as $2,500.
Newsom’s proposed rebates could exclude Tesla and other automakers in an effort to promote more market competition and innovation, according to the governor’s office. But that is subject to negotiation with the state Legislature.
The thing is, as Tesla CEO Elon Musk himself noted in a tweet, “Tesla is the only company who manufactures their EVs in California!” He added: “This is insane.”
Ro Khanna agreed, taking Newsom to task for the potential effect the ban could have on his community.
Tesla makes over 550,000 vehicles in Fremont in my district & employs over 20,000. Let’s not play politics with keeping manufacturing in California. It would be foolish to exclude Tesla. Have we learned nothing from snubbing @elonmusk at the Biden EV summit? https://t.co/I0Jzx51eP7
— Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) November 26, 2024
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In his tweet, Khanna referred to the 2021 gathering at the Biden White House of Tesla EV competitors General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis to discuss helping President Biden achieve his goal of forcing Americans to abandon gas-powered vehicles in favor of electric ones. Tesla, despite accounting for 48 percent of EV sales in the United States, was not invited to participate in the meeting.
This latest Tesla snub comes as Newsom is calling for a special session of state lawmakers in order to “Trump-proof” Newsom’s leftist agenda ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House on January 20, 2025. Said Newsom, “The freedoms we hold dear in California are under attack — and we won’t sit idle.” Punishing Tesla owners in his own state seems to be key to Newsom’s idea of how best to position himself to nab the nomination in four years.
One financial analyst noted of Newsom’s attempted showdown with the MAGA agenda, “This is clearly a political move of Newsom and California towards Musk which now has a front seat to the Trump White House and will be a key player in ultimately getting these federal tax credits wiped away among a myriad of other things on the federal front.”
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President-elect Trump has made it clear he intends to stand in Newsom’s way, taking to social media to say that Newsom’s radical agenda is “stopping all of the GREAT things that can be done to ‘Make California Great Again.'”
President-elect Trump on his Truth Social responds to Gov. Newsom’s call for a special legislative session to protect California from Trump’s proposed policies.
Says he will demand Voter ID and proof of citizenship in voting process: pic.twitter.com/pK51YlSnSg
— Ashley Zavala (@ZavalaA) November 8, 2024
