Mike Rogers, former U.S. Rep. and current Republican candidate in the race to replace retiring Michigan U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, appeared before a crowd of opponents to the proposed Gotion Inc. electric-vehicle manufacturing plant in Green Charter Township.
The crowd, clearly invigorated after former President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he was “100% OPPOSED” to the plant, which he said “would be very bad for the State and our Country. It would put Michiganders under the thumb of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing.”
Rogers is running against Democrat Rep. Elissa Slotkin for the hotly contested seat, and Rogers wasted no time telling the group gathered together at a GTC horse farm that Slotkin had signed a nondisclosure agreement with Gotion as the Chinese-owned company was making plans to build a new plant outside of Big Rapids in Mecosta County. It was a sentiment also expressed by other speakers preceding him, including Michigan Sen. Lana Theis, R-Brighton; U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Midland; and former U.S. Ambassador and current Chair of the Michigan Republican Party Pete Hoekstra.
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As a U.S. Representative, Rogers served as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, which he said gives him an in-depth perception of Chinese activities over the past two decades, including the spy balloon that traversed U.S. airspace, working with Russia to spy on American activities in Alaska, shooting down a U.S. satellite in 2007, and they have been aggressive in cyberspace.
Rogers noted that government EV mandates haven’t forced the public to transition to electric-powered vehicles, and that major automotive Original Equipment Manufacturers Stellantis, Ford, and General Motors were given billions of taxpayer dollars to produce EVs and billions more were given to companies such as Gotion and Ford’s CATL EV battery plant in Marshall.
Although the OEMs took the government money, they still couldn’t overcome public skepticism for EVs.
“Ford lost $130,000 for every electric vehicle they sold,” Rogers said. “Ford just now announced there’s gonna be layoffs on the horizon. General Motors just announced 1000 layoffs,” he said.
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“This is what happens when the government does mandates and doesn’t let the market work,” Rogers continued. “They decided they wanted you to drive an electric car. They’re going to mandate you have to buy one. They told the Big Three …. they were going to have to build these cars and, oh by the way, we’re going to save your day by forcing a Chinese Communist party here bringing in Chinese workers to build a battery plant that takes 40% less labor.”
Rogers added: “If I wrote you a script about a year ago and said, ‘Hey, let’s make this movie about how we beat the United States. We’re going to mandate something you don’t want to buy. It’s not going to be environmentally friendly, 85% of that product has to be processed in China … you’d laugh at me and say, ‘No way would America do that to its own people.'”
Watch the full “No Gotion” rally: