The progressive left has spent years sermonizing about the virtues of “buy local”—fewer carbon-spewing cargo ships, more jobs for American workers, a lighter footprint on Mother Earth. It was their climate gospel, right up there with electric vehicles (EVs) and organic kale. But now, with Donald Trump’s latest tariff push hitting foreign goods hard, the same crowd that once fetishized localism is clutching their imported lattes and crying foul. First, they turned on Tesla’s EVs, now they’re ditching “buy local”—and the irony is thicker than a smog cloud over Beijing.
Trump’s tariff offensive, rolled out with gusto in recent weeks, is designed to jolt American manufacturing back to life. The White House calls it a “liberation” for U.S. workers, targeting everything from foreign cars to cheap overseas parts. Tesla, with its factories humming in California and Texas, should be a winner here—more expensive imports mean a leg up for homegrown EVs. You’d think the climate crowd would cheer: fewer globe-trotting supply chains, less fuel burned, a win for their green utopia. After all, studies have long shown that local production can slash transport emissions—think of the diesel-chugging freighters idling off Long Beach. But instead of popping champagne, leftists are picketing Tesla dealerships and wailing about trade wars. What gives?
The answer’s simple: politics trumps principle. Tesla’s sin isn’t its carbon footprint—it’s Elon Musk, the man who dared to join Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and swing an axe at sacred federal programs. Protests that started last year with “Honk if you hate Elon” signs have escalated in 2025 to smashed windows and torched showrooms, with Trump blasting the culprits as “domestic terrorists” at a March presser. Never mind that Tesla’s U.S.-made EVs align with the localvore dream—progressives dumped them the second Musk’s politics went rogue. Now, they’re turning on tariffs too, despite the climate perks of keeping production stateside. It’s a stunning reversal for a movement that once claimed the moral high ground on emissions.
The tariff backlash is peak hypocrisy. These are the same folks who’ve spent decades guilting us about “food miles” and the evils of globalization. Localism was their shield against Big Oil and corporate sprawl—until Trump made it his weapon. Now, they’re decrying the very policies that could shrink the carbon cost of goods, all because the wrong guy’s in charge. Canada’s retaliatory moves have them clutching pearls over higher prices, while EU threats of tit-for-tat duties spark fears of a “globalist” meltdown. Protests in Toronto even looped Tesla into the mess, tying Musk to Trump’s trade agenda. Suddenly, the climate alarmists who swore by local economies are rooting for the transatlantic supply chain. Who needs irony when you’ve got this?
Meanwhile, the climate math gets ignored. Shorter supply lines mean less shipping, less fuel, fewer emissions—stuff the left used to tattoo on their reusable tote bags. Tesla’s CFO griped earlier this year about supply chain hiccups from Canada and Mexico, but Musk himself admitted on X that local production could offset some pain. The tariff push might just force more companies to build here, not there. Yet the left’s too busy raging at Trump to notice—or care. They’d rather burn the localvore playbook than admit he’s stumbled into their own logic.
This is the real story: the left’s climate crusade was never about the planet. It was about control, optics, and punishing the right villains. When Tesla’s EVs stopped being their mascot, they trashed them. Now that tariffs threaten their borderless worldview, “buy local” is out the window too. Next, they’ll be boycotting farmers’ markets if Trump tweets about them. For a movement obsessed with saving the Earth, they sure love abandoning their own ideas the minute the politics shift. The climate’s just a prop—until it isn’t.
Virtue signaling watermelons?
They ARE the watermelons, red on the inside and green on the outside perfectly describes leftist green fetichism.
And full of spit(s)…😉
Typical leftist slogans like “hope, joy, unity, love” belie the darkness of their hearts. These people are motivated by heart and greed, and the rest of humanity’s based urges. It’s amazing that people still fall for their bs promising free this and free that and it never comes to pass.
This week there was one incident where college conservatives at Columbia University had their table trashed and equipment smashed, while campus cops just watched. The Columbia admin’s only response was that they support freedom of speech.
In another incident, a reporter for a pro-life publication was attacked on the street and left bloodied, by an enraged passerby.
One of the first things the far left does when they achieve sufficient power, is to set up re-education camps for those who fail to support them completely.
“Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt.”
Freedom of speech does not involve the “sticks and stones” part.
Bring in the “sticks and stones” part and you are engaging in criminal activity.
New bombshell study reveals ‘assassination culture’ spreading on the left under President Trump | Fox News
I heard from a friend that some demonstrators set fire to a local farm stand in solidarity with Tesla torchers. (Well, it could happen.)
Just another of many examples of how the Left defies logic by back pedaling in a changing political landscape, and I hope the American people and the whole world are taking notice of their breath taking HYPOCRISY. I figured the whole Leftist house of cards would come tumbling down when given a nudge. YES!!
“…. the whole Leftist house of cards [will] come tumbling down when given a nudge.”
__________________________________________________________________________
I wouldn’t hold my breath. I know people who should know better who vote for their bullshit.
“This is the real story: the left’s climate crusade was never about the planet.”
This is plainly so.
And just wait until Lee Zeldin’s EPA comes out with an updated scientific basis concerning emissions of CO2, CH4, N2O, etc. in the reconsideration of the 2009 Endangerment Finding. Then it will also become clearer that it was never about trusting science – or rather, trusting “The Science” – all along.
“The Science” is their version of Huizilopochtli, and they are as willing to sacrifice others to it as eagerly as the Mexica were.
Quotes that bear repeating.
“— “We’ve got to ride this global warming issue. Even if the theory of global warming is wrong, we will be doing the right thing in terms of economic and environmental policy.” – Timothy Wirth, president of the UN Foundation.
— “No matter if the science of global warming is all phony. … climate change provides the greatest opportunity to bring about justice and equality in the world.” – Christine Stewart, former Canadian Minister of the Environment”
PS If I’m not mistaken, this is the same Timothy Wirth that, as a Senator, sabotaged the AC in the hearing room back when James Hansen testified about “Global Warming” back in the late “80’s.
Good take on the strange times we’re in…thanks.
well written and explained…this will set more of them ON FIRE !!
This is very one-sided. One could easily write an article going the other way.
“The Right’s Free Trade Betrayal: Tariffs Expose Economic Hypocrisy
The activist right has spent years sermonizing about the virtues of “free markets”—fewer intrusive government regulations, lower prices for goods, higher GDP growth. It was their economic gospel, right up there with lower taxes and environmental deregulation. But now, with Donald Trump’s latest tariff push hitting foreign goods hard, the same crowd that once fetishized free trade is rejoicing. First, they lionized the owner of an EV company (Musk), now they’re ditching “buy cheap”—and the irony is thicker than a smog cloud over Beijing.
Trump’s tariff offensive, rolled out with gusto in recent weeks, is the most intrusive government regulation in years. The White House calls it a “liberation” for U.S. workers, targeting everything from foreign cars to cheap overseas parts. Tesla, with its factories humming in California and Texas, should be a winner here—more expensive imports mean a leg up for homegrown EVs. You’d think the climate realists would hiss: fewer globe-trotting supply chains, less market efficiency, a loss for their capitalist utopia. After all, studies have long shown that international trade can boost economic growth—think of all the cheap iPhones being imported from China. But instead of protesting, conservatives are standing with Trump and dismissing concerns about trade wars. What gives?
The answer’s simple: politics trumps principle. Tesla’s virtue isn’t its carbon footprint—it’s Elon Musk, the man who dared to join Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and swing an axe at sacred federal programs. Praise that started last year with “Dark MAGA” signs have escalated in 2025 to giving Musk extraordinary power to cut programs, with Trump publicly goading him on to do more. Never mind that Tesla’s EVs align with the progressive climate dream—conservatives embraced them the second Musk’s politics went MAGA. Now, they’re embracing tariffs too, despite the economic perks of free trade. It’s a stunning reversal for a movement that once claimed the moral high ground on the economy.
For a movement obsessed with saving America, they sure love abandoning their own ideas the minute the politics shift. The economy is just a prop—until it isn’t.”
Exactly when was there ever free trade?
Exactly right. The trade war has been running for decades. The Bush’s and Clinton disarmed the US in the trade war. It’s been one-way for decades. Trump is just exposing the phony “free trade”, that has never existed, by enacting reciprocal tariffs.
Musk has no authority to cut any thing. He and his team are analysts and advisors. I hope that the cabinet secretaries and staff who do have authority, will cut deeply, and where they can’t cut, they reallocate funds to productive, useful areas.
Praytell, what tariffs did the European Union have on US imports circa January 2025? As far as I know, the EU had very minimal tariffs, and what Trump has enacted is far beyond “reciprocal”. https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/04/03/fact-check-are-donald-trumps-tariffs-on-the-eu-really-reciprocal
Trump’s premise is that nearly every country in the world has been taking advantage of us for decades. But I don’t see any evidence of that. It appears to be something that Trump supports repeat to themselves without ever looking it up.
If anything, American consumers have been taking advantage of poor people in other countries. We enjoy cheap goods produced by foreigners with few labor protections. https://time.com/chinapoet/
A few months ago trade was much freer than it is now.
Sometimes political parties, here in the US anyway, change positions according to results observed from previous policy positions. The Clinton Democratic Party championed NAFTA. Bush II’s neocons pushed to expand free trade even more. You could point to good results from that stance, but it’s hard to dispute that it also led to loss of manufacturing (by design) and increasing income inequality. Bernie Sanders and others were beating that drum in the early 2000s. So Trump comes along and agrees that free trade as pursued in the US was a bad thing, and took a strong pro-tariff position in an attempt to undo the damage. Finally something Democrats and Republicans can agree on! But wait, wasn’t that Bernie in the news the other day berating the Trump administration for this latest tariff campaign? Bottom line, one party recognized problems with a theory (i.e., free trade is good) underpinning one of its traditional platform positions, changed it, and wins the presidential popular vote for the first time in a generation. My hope for Europe, Canada, and Australia is that their political leadership develop a similar ability to objectively assess the effects of their NetZero push and adapt in the same manner as the US.
If it’s strange for Bernie Sanders to switch his views on free trade, it’s no less strange for Donald Trump to do the same. You can’t simple assume that one of these people is reacting to new information and the other isn’t; you have to prove it.
The battle in US politics has not been “conservatives” vs “progressives” for a long time. It’s been the vast majority of US citizens vs the entrenched bureaucracy and army of NGOs feeding at the trough and laundering money. It’s much more about populists vs the elite. The scope and scale of the grift and corruption is remarkable. Trump did not suddenly decide last week the wind was blowing this way. He has been talking about these ideas for decades. A large block of “conservatives” (RINOs and neo-cons) just want to continuous war and the resulting funding to military contractors, and then enjoy cushy lucrative jobs w/the contractors they generously funded. The Democrats abandoned the bottom 90% of US citizens a long time ago.
With US debt/GDP well over 100% it will be interesting if the US economy can buck the trend and survive. The alternative of US defaulting on obligations, and eventually losing the dollar’s status as reserve currency would “be bad” for US citizens, along with US protectorates, official and unofficial. We do live in interesting times. Good luck cozying up to China
Do you have details and evidence regarding allegedly widespread “grift and corruption” pre-Trump? If so, I’d like to see it. And then I’d like to see if Trump’s cuts are actually targeting the grift or if he’s just cutting things haphazardly. (I think it’s the latter.)
“But now, with Donald Trump’s latest tariff push hitting foreign goods hard, the same crowd that once fetishized free trade is rejoicing.”
All Trump is doing is putting the same % tariff on imports from a country as they’ve been putting on imports from the US. They lower theirs, we’ll lower ours.
What’s wrong with that?
They lower theirs, we’ll lower ours.
From what I’m reading, that’s starting to happen.
They have no virtue to signal nor principles to Trump. It is pure fashion dictated by their approved oligarchs. Billionaires are evil, except the ones bankrolling their stage production.
The Democrata are the party of billionaires.
The Republicans elected a billionaire President twice. The Democrats never even nominated one.
Read Conrad Black’s article today in National Post that basically is opposed to Canada’s supply management dairy and Ag quota system, seems in favor of Wisconsin’s occasional overproduction being more than enough to put ALL Canadian dairy farms out of business in one milk dumping price cycle. This from a newspaper magnate that basically set his media prices based on market forces and NOT what the newsboy on the next corner decided to dump his newspapers for at the end of the day. US dairy farmers would prefer Supply side Management pricing compared to their current take it or leave it offers from Kroger or Walmart that cause them to seek federal subsidies. Of course, one must remember that Trump pardoned Conrad out of his U.S. prison sentence. Writes a good story though.
I don’t know any company that would refuse a guaranteed profit. That’s all these production cartels have ever been.
Prices are determined by supply and demand. Every purchaser does whatever they can to get the lowest price, this is true for Wal-Mart, as well as each person who walks Wal-Mart’s aisles.
Tell me, when shopping, do you look for the highest price, or the lowest. Why is this evil for Wal-Mart, but logical for you?
It takes years to build a dairy herd, but a dairy farmer can be broke in 3 months if prices are bad. In the U.S. a system of taxpayer subsidies exist that does not exist in Canada.
Those “price fixing boards”, as you might prefer to call them, that Canada uses, consist of farmers, retailers, gov’t bureaucrats, and citizen volunteers with supply and demand and farm viability charts in front of them. The profit is hardly guaranteed but is sufficient that someone with a tanker of milk isn’t going to sell it for a couple of hundred bucks and put farmers who more carefully matched market conditions, throwing them into financial hardship. The price is decided when cooler heads prevail rather than bank accounts in crisis can be taken advantage of by wholesalers. The price to US farmers is controlled by supply and demand only in the sense that supply is finally controlled by how many dairy farmers are allowed to go broke by subsidy administrators. Of course, from one end, it looks like a good option for wholesalers to dump their excess production on another country, using the law of supply and demand pricing to destroy that other country’s production while recovering some cash themselves.
The real issue is money in their pockets. They’ve been grifting on huge subsidies and grants which are now threatened and they use any ideal to maintain their grift.
This is a manifestation of Kamal’s call:
“What can be, unburdened by what has been“
Once unburdened, flip-flops are easy.
The inner city lefties want you to save the planet not them, there life wasn’t supposed to be impacted.
Tariffs are an import tax. Nothing more and nothing less.
Tariffs increase the price of imported goods. Nothing more and nothing less.
American leftists always support tax increases. They call for increased taxes all the time.
So why are American leftists opposed to tariffs again?
Avocados are imported.
That must really affect the warmanistas.
Post says:”So why are American leftists opposed to tariffs again?”
Because tariffs are optional as far as passing the cost along where as taxes are mandatory. Leftists love the mandatory part.
The leftist want to tax Americans and destroy the middle class, not other countries.
I’m sorry, but tariffs to support trade deficits?
Example -“Australia has traditionally had a gaping trade deficit with the United States.
The following table from Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) shows that the United States exported (A$88.2b) more than double what it imported (A$37.5b) from Australia in 2023-24.”
https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2025/04/the-irony-of-us-tariffs-on-australia/
But a rare exception makes it look good. Two months where Australian exports exceeded imports.
Trump’s tariff offensive, rolled out with gusto in recent weeks, is designed to jolt American manufacturing back to life.
The tariffs themselves are not what this reborn Jacksonian Democrat is all about. Rather they’re the means to an end of clipping China’s wings with the goal of a Western democratic free trade bloc and the gangsters can please themselves. How so? Well you notice already despite the initial grandstanding Canada has offered an enlarged unilateral north American free trade bloc plus Israel (presumably they’ve had some tariffs for defence seeding purposes).
Now North America as a whole is an offer not easily refused and given NAFTA before Mexico and much of South America (Milei’s Argentina?) will want in too. That’s a snowball gathering Japan Taiwan and South Korea with inevitably Australia and NZ realizing where their interests lie. That’s a seriously large trading bloc with common interests so what about you Europe as none other than Musk spells it out to them in Italy-
Musk says he hopes for ‘zero’ tariffs between US and Europe | Daily Telegraph
Trump has thrown down the gauntlet to them all to circle the wagons in a Western liberal democratic free trade bloc or continue exporting your economic capacity to the likes of coal fired China until you reach net zero capability. After all he warned you about about relying on gangser gas and you laughed at him but you’re not laughing now. Trump is supremely confident American get up and go can flourish in any fair Western free trade bloc particularly as his DOGE clears out the fraudsters slackers and grifters at home in preparation.
Why do you think those EU/UN elites grifters and usual suspects are freaking out right now and calling him a fascist and threat to democracy? We live in interesting times and this Jacksonian Democrat may yet prove to be among the great US Presidents because he’s learned all about the swamp and their ways and he’s back with a plan and the right people for the task.
We will watch the Trump tariff ‘masterplan’ backfire in real time..
Well I confess it’s the crash through or crash approach and there’ll be some losers/disruption while it sorts itself out. No doubt his 4 year term encourages that. Nevertheless Canada’s surprise backflip looks promising for Trump’s approach and who’s next I wonder?
Erm…………
Tariffs aren’t just on fruit and veg, and I don’t think anyone has ever said we should buy local cars (not efficient to have a factory in every town), so I’m curious what the link is between tariffs and “localvores”.
Not that “eat local” ever made any sense, even from a CO2/climate point of view.
Pre emptive statement: i am not on the ‘left’.
Moving on: the Trump tariff ‘masterplan’ will have large net negatives and will aid the demise of the US which was coming anyway. I have weighed all the elements in this plan. The Golden upcoming age of the US will turn bad in increasing steps. The rest of the world can live without the US and these tariffs will make the BRICS+ system more robust. But the US considers itself of the utmost importance. They are going the way of the British Empire. Lessons clearly not learned. Im just looking forward to all those tariff proponents when they try to ignore the egg on their faces over time.
But then again, the news cycle spins so fast these days people have forgotten what was in the news a week ago so dont even spot the anomalies.
While I’d agree Americans have been living off the seignorage of the dollar and indulging themselves in flippant idle pursuits under the sleepy joe facade America does still produce great entrepreneurs and men of substance to answer the call-
Elon Musk’s DOGE team breaks silence
That’s not a correction command economies like China can so readily make and neither can that system generate a leader like Donald Trump forged in the crucible of electioneering. He’s one tough cookie businessman and America needs them now. China is in trouble economically not least because it’s on the demographic decline and the immigration flows are notably outwards with whatever Yen they can take with them. Toughen up princesses because there’s still plenty want a slice of what you’re enjoying.
Post says:” I have weighed all the elements in this plan.”
I seriously doubt this.
“The United States currently holds the title of the world’s largest consumer market, characterized by a large, diverse, and wealthy population and high levels of consumer spending.”
You must be a marketing advisor for Disney’s Snow White remake, or Bud Light. Full steam ahead, we don’t need to keep our largest market segment!
The communist originated dialectic is a process that knows no end, Thesis, antitheses arriving at synthesis makes for constant revision. A thesis is only viable until synthesis becomes the thesis, then it can be attacked, altered,’ It’s a Barnham and Bailey world’, as the song describes. Cognitive dissonance at its most extreme. Thomas Sowell had a whole book disparaging intellectuals, The more profound we attempt to be the more we expose ourselves to naivety and stupidity, generational thing where all too often once admired great minds are superseded by our paragons (but they only await their inevitable fate). When an intellectual makes a mistake thar’s just synthesis, a process going nowhere, stuff happens, nothing to view here, move on. A busy engineering mind of originality, being productive, makes a mistake and it’s drains-up time and the cruelty of scrutiny by conjecture.
Chuckle- Trump’s tariff intentions have been ‘very clear’
Hmmm…fine words so what about a complete free trade deal with north America?
Trade Sec ‘disappointed’ by US tariffs on UK and wants to strike a deal | Watch
I don’t think Trump would be too fussed if the UK isn’t exactly into drill baby drill and prefers the windmills and solar panels to power the competition.
“By means of glasses, hotbeds, and hotwalls, very good grapes can be raised in Scotland, and very good wine too can be made of them at about thirty times the expense for which at least equally good can be brought from foreign countries.” Adam Smith.
From the above article:
“Meanwhile, the climate math gets ignored.”
Well, speaking of math being ignored—intentional or otherwise—President Trump’s “math” regarding tariffs is totally incorrect, as explained by Newsweek
(https://search.app/tnumRvGg9TVCH1vB7 )
and other websites.
Specifically, Trump’s presentation of “tariff percentages” (albeit with a footnote stating it included adjustments for currency manipulation, trade barriers and “cheating” — who exactly made such “adjustments” left unsaid) charged by foreign countries on American imports are not at all tariffs . . . instead they are a calculation of a percentage of trade imbalance.
As one of the most egregious examples, Trump claimed in his April 2 press briefing that Vietnam imposed a 90% tariff on its imports of US products, whereas reality is that average tariff, according to the World Trade Organization data for 2023 (ref: https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/05/business/trump-reciprocal-tariffs-real-numbers/index.html ) is actually a tariff of around 9.4%. Hmmm . . . only off by a factor of almost ten!
IMHO, this was and still is intentional misrepresentation by Trump and his (mis)Administration.
This is the “most transparent Administration in history”??? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3EBZRRU1BA )??? I THINK NOT!
Trump believes in free trade and competition but it requires a level playing field for that-
The Great EV Con: The deception driving our green future | 7NEWS
That’s the same gripe about fickles dumping on communal grids and requiring fossil fuel generators to pick up the tab. Not easy to put a dollar value on the long term cost but the lack of fairness is glaringly obvious to all but the wilfully blind.
So based on that being applied to Trump’s method of calculating “tariffs”, that would mean the US is now seeking to have a balance of trade (in terms of USD) with all countries that import US goods and products.
WOW! Just think about that for one minute: a country with a relatively small population and small manufacturing & export capability is expected to match, via their exports to us, the dollar value of goods they import from the US??? IT MAKES NO SENSE!
Alternatively, maybe Trump’s goal is that a smaller foreign country reduce its dollar value of imports from the US downward to match the value of their total exports to the US??? Yeah, that balance of trade/”level playing field” would be real good economically for the US (not!) . . . IT MAKES NO SENSE!
The USA has prospered since the early 1800’s (in concert with the Industrial Revolution, and more recently the Semiconductor Revolution) in large part because it was able to sell (i.e., export) its enormous excess manufacturing capability and products to world markets eager to buy such. No USA President ever before considered that trade imbalances (to the benefit of the US) were a “problem” that needed a solution.
Again, tariffs are one thing and trade imbalances are another thing altogether . . . and Donald Trump apparently never learned the difference.
As for Trump’s economic “advisors”, the devil take the lot.