Michael Tavoliero: The Left’s manipulation of auto industry undermines American innovation

By MICHAEL TAVOLIERO

For more than a century, the American auto industry stood as a beacon of global leadership, technological ingenuity, and economic mobility. But under the long shadow of the modern American Left, this engine of prosperity has been systematically transformed into a tool of political enforcement.

From Franklin Roosevelt to Joe Biden, Democratic administrations have imposed an anti-growth, anti-productivity, and ultimately anti-American agenda that warps one of our most innovative sectors into an instrument of ideological conformity.

From FDR’s union favoritism to Biden’s green mandates, the pattern is clear: comply with centralized control and reap the rewards; resist and face regulatory and reputational punishment. No clearer example exists today than Tesla—the most successful electric vehicle manufacturer in the world—being deliberately targeted for exclusion, destruction, and failure, not due to performance or innovation failures, but because of its refusal to unionize and Elon Musk’s refusal to bend to progressive orthodoxy.

FDR’s New Deal: The Beginning of Command Economy Politics

In the 1930s, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal restructured the economy to favor political loyalty over market dynamism. The Wagner Act (1935) institutionalized union dominance, catalyzing the rise of the United Auto Workers. When GM resisted, Roosevelt looked the other way during the illegal Flint Sit-Down Strike. Henry Ford’s anti-union stance earned him national condemnation. Compliance was rewarded; independence vilified.

Regulatory Weaponization: Carter to Clinton

In the 1970s, Jimmy Carter’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards imposed engineering burdens that undercut U.S. manufacturers and favored foreign imports. By the 1990s, Bill Clinton’s NAFTA accelerated offshoring, gutting American auto towns in the name of global trade. The policy was clear: labor deals and environmental standards trumped the health of domestic industry.

Obama’s Bailout Blueprint: Cronyism Over Competence

Barack Obama used the 2008–09 financial crisis to launch the most overtly political transformation of the auto sector since the New Deal. Under the guise of economic recovery, the federal government took de facto control of General Motors and Chrysler, wiping out secured bondholders in favor of the UAW and shuttering non-union dealerships—disproportionately located in red-state and rural areas. Meanwhile, remember all the fuss over the Prius?

Just like Tesla these last few months, the Left and its mainstream media targeted the Prius. Toyota faced a high-profile federal investigation into supposed acceleration defects. Despite later evidence that driver error was largely responsible, Toyota paid a record fine of $1.2 billion. Its crime? Outperforming GM and doing so without political dependency. Obama’s message was clear: even a successful company must kneel if it stands outside the favored circle.

Biden’s Green Ideology: Market Destruction by Design

President Biden elevated this model to new heights. His 2032 gas car ban and regulatory throttling of internal combustion engines are not market corrections—they’re political mandates. Tesla, which should be the poster child of clean innovation, has been excluded from EV summits, penalized in federal subsidies, and attacked in the press for the “crime” of non-unionization.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, especially after his appointment of a Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE) team in partnership with Donald Trump, has become a particular target. Social media mobs, encouraged by Democratic influencers, resorted to vandalizing Teslas in liberal cities. Ironically, many of these cars belonged to Democrats themselves—a self-inflicted economic tantrum that only underscored the irrationality of politicized industrial policy.

Consequences: Punishing Success, Rewarding Failure

In today’s America, The Left wants it to be clear: Economic merit is no longer the determinant of policy favor. Non-union innovators like Tesla face exclusion, while floundering union-backed firms like GM and Ford enjoy endless subsidies despite mass layoffs and delayed rollouts. The result: less innovation, more stagnation, and rising costs for consumers.

Republican Response: Passive and Incomplete

With rare exceptions, Republicans have failed to mount a sustained defense of free enterprise in the auto sector. Donald Trump’s first term reversed many EPA overreaches and renegotiated NAFTA, but these were temporary moves. Without a permanent counteragenda to centralized industrial control, the Left’s blueprint resets itself by default.

From Innovation to Indoctrination

The auto industry once embodied American exceptionalism. Now, under the Left’s regime, it is rapidly devolving into a sector managed by political favor, not performance. Tesla’s rise should have signaled a new era of American dominance. Instead, its success triggered a campaign of bureaucratic sabotage. The message is unmistakable: build what Washington approves, or be broken.

Restoring industrial freedom starts by recognizing what we’re losing—not just cars, but capitalism itself. If we continue down this road, the question won’t be whether America leads in auto manufacturing, but whether we still have an industry worthy of the name.

But Wait! There’s More.

Donald Trump’s approach to his second term stands in stark contrast to the cautious, reactive posture typical of establishment Republicans. Unlike the incrementalism of past GOP administrations, Trump has demonstrated an aggressive and unapologetic willingness to destabilize the institutional Left — not merely resist it.

Whereas most Republicans have failed to sustain a long-term defense of free enterprise in the auto industry, Trump recognized that regulatory rollback alone is not enough. His trade renegotiations, attacks on weaponized environmental policy, and direct criticism of politicized unions reflect a broader doctrine: the deep state and its corporate satellites must not be managed — they must be confronted and defunded.

In his second-term planning — particularly through the revival of Schedule F and the establishment of the Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE) — Trump appears poised to dismantle the administrative infrastructure that enables Leftist dominance over key industries like energy, education, and automotive manufacturing. This signals a shift from defense to offense — a deliberate strategy to not just pause the Left’s agenda but cripple its enforcement arms within the federal bureaucracy.

His targeting of ideological compliance as the root disease—where subsidies, grants, and regulatory shields reward companies aligned with progressive narratives—reveals a deeper understanding than most Republicans. Trump has proven that economic freedom cannot survive without executive disruption of the mechanisms used to suppress it.

In short, Trump’s second term, if realized, will not be a repeat of the first. It will be a deliberate campaign of institutional deconstruction, designed not to compromise with entrenched interests, but to neutralize them — permanently.

Michael Tavoliero writes for Must Read Alaska.

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