American Idiots
You Know It’s Fake Because Donny Is Smiling
History won’t be kind to Lee Zeldin.
Even now, today, The Donald isn’t very kind to Lee Zeldin.
Lee and Donny announced this week that they are erasing the scientific findings and protections regarding how greenhouse gases cause climate change, thereby ending the US government’s legal authority to control pollution.
Let’s break down what the endangerment finding is and why it matters. In 2009, after years of extensive scientific review, EPA officially determined that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and welfare.
This “endangerment finding,” as it’s known, was based on overwhelming evidence from EPA’s own experts, the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, and the scientific community that shows that US greenhouse gas emissions from extracting and burning fossil fuels drive global climate change and harm people.
These American idiots claimed that repealing the endangerment findings would save auto manufacturers and other businesses an estimated $1.3 trillion.
But they didn’t explain how they arrived at that estimate (dude, show your work).
They just put up a poster at a press conference with $1.3 trillion printed on it (dude, I also have a Vistaprint account).
ICYMI: According to the EPA’s own math (when they were capable of doing math), those protections have saved tens of thousands of lives annually and yielded up to $275 billion in public health benefits, not to mention the emissions cuts that help slow global warming. National Geographic reported in 2020 that the Clean Air Act has both saved millions of lives and trillions of dollars.
Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency used an Energy Department analysis (“analysis” is a strong word here) to justify initiating the repeal of the endangerment finding.
The DOE invited feedback on its report by opening a public comment period in the Federal Register.
In total, they received 59,563 responses to their analysis.
In one instance, more than 85 American and international scientists collaborated on their own Rutgers Climate and Energy Institute report, condemning the DOE and saying their analysis was riddled with errors, misrepresentations, and cherry-picked data to fit the administration’s agenda.
The Donald, who has called climate scientists “stupid people,” claimed on Thursday that the endangerment finding “had no basis in fact.”
Zeldin rattled on about his dislike of automatic stop/start features in vehicles.
Under the new EPA rules, all off-cycle credits, including those tied to auto stop/start, have been eliminated.
These credits previously allowed manufacturers to earn compliance “points” for installing fuel-saving features, even if the real-world impact varied.
Then Lee claimed that these changes would save American consumers $2,400 on the price of new cars, SUVs, and trucks.
But Lee didn’t connect the dots on how removing the automatic stop/start features will cost Americans more at the pump, effectively negating any potential savings on vehicle purchases after you factor in the total cost of ownership to fuel the vehicle over its lifespan.
Also, there’s no guarantee that OEMs would pass on any savings to consumers in the first place. They may see it more as a way to partially recoup the losses they’ve incurred due to The Donald’s tariffs.
The repeal of the endangerment finding is expected to increase US greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent over the next 30 years.
The added pollution could lead to as many as 58,000 premature deaths and an increase of 37 million asthma attacks between now and 2055, the group said.
Someone should tell Lee Zeldin that dead people don’t buy cars.
Jeff Holmstead, a former EPA assistant administrator under George W Bush, pointed out that “vehicle makers have very long planning cycles, and the revocation of the endangerment finding won’t have much practical impact in the near term.”
In addition to increasing air pollutants and setting the US further behind in the global renewable energy race, if American OEMs reverse course on emission standards, their vehicles will likely be unsaleable in the rest of the world.
Let me end this week’s post with what Charles P. Pierce suggested would be an apt fate for Lee Zeldin: “If I could work my will, Lee Zeldin would be sentenced to a year living in a shotgun shack in Iberville Parish right in the middle of Louisiana’s Cancer Alley. Maybe two years. Let him get healthy breathing the air produced by 30 petrochemical plants.”
China’s Automotive Expansion
Canadian Automobile Dealers Association CEO Tim Reuss said 70 Canadian dealers have signed up for CADA’s latest tour of China, which will give dealers a crash course in the market’s key players and dynamics. autonews.com
Geely overtook BYD in passenger vehicle sales in January. carnewschina.com
Xiaomi’s electric SUV tops China sales in January. cnbc.com
Xiaomi founder says they have no plans to bring their EVs to the US. cnevpost.com
BYD says it has developed sodium-ion batteries capable of up to 10,000 charge cycles. cnevpost.com
Ford CEO Jim Farley reportedly discussed a potential roadmap with senior US officials for Chinese automakers to produce vehicles in the US through partnerships with American car companies. cnevpost.com
Must-Know Musk News
Tesla’s US sales dropped 17% in January 2026, marking a fourth consecutive month of decline. autoblog.com
The US decides that SpaceX is an airline, exempting it from the Labour Relations Act. arstechnica.com
Elon announces xAI re-org following co-founder departures. cnbc.com
SpaceX is considering a dual-class share structure in its planned IPO this year. reuters.com
Southwest Airlines plans to add Starlink to 300 of its aircraft by the end of the year. theverge.com
Rise Of The Machines
Apptronik CTO Nicholas Paine and CEO Jeff Cardenas
Apptronik has raised $520 million in funding at a $5 billion valuation as the start-up aims to commercialize its humanoid Apollo robots, potentially beating Chinese competitors and Tesla’s Optimus to the market. cnbc.com
Chinese robotics firm MirrorMe Technology has unveiled what it claims is the fastest-running humanoid robot to date, marking a new benchmark in bipedal robotics. interestingengineering.com
Energy
The Donald was named the “undisputed champion of beautiful clean coal” by a coal industry group. theguardian.com
The Donald signed an Executive Order directing the Department of War to purchase more electricity from coal-fired power plants. whitehouse.gov
Shell needs a big discovery or deals to replace its oil and gas reserves. reuters.com
Oil prices settle slightly higher as optimism over US inflation data outweighs concerns about OPEC supply. reuters.com
The Donald moved to allow US oil companies to rehabilitate their existing oil drills, pipelines and other assets in Venezuela. politico.com
The US eases sanctions to give oil majors a broad scope to operate in Venezuela. reuters.com
But Wait, There’s More
The 2027 Toyota Highlander EV
Toyota unveiled the new 2027 Highlander, a fully redesigned midsize SUV that marks the brand’s first three-row electric vehicle for the US market and the first Toyota EV assembled in America. theverge.com
Toyota made a game engine. theverge.com
Rivian shares surge as upcoming affordable SUV powers EV delivery forecast. reuters.com
Volkswagen Group has produced five million electric drive units across multiple global plants. autoblog.com
Ford said its electric vehicle division lost $4.8 billion in 2025 and was expected to lose $4 billion to $4.5 billion in 2026. The company also said the division would continue to lose money for at least 2 more years. nytimes.com
Stellantis reintroduces 7 diesel models in Europe. reuters.com
Mercedes hit by $1.2 billion in tariff costs as full-year earnings more than halve. cnbc.com
Ferrari’s first EV will have an interior designed by Jony Ive. theverge.com
The SEC closed its investigation into Fisker. techcrunch.com
Waymo will begin fully autonomous operations with its 6th-generation Driver. waymo.com
Waymo is asking DoorDash drivers to shut the doors of its self-driving cars. techcrunch.com
Waymo expects to hit 1 million rides a week by the end of the year. theverge.com
Aurora’s driverless trucks can now travel farther distances faster than human drivers. techcrunch.com
UAW President Shawn Fain decides he doesn’t like The Donald’s Tariffs afterall. wsj.com
The Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association (APMA) unveiled two advanced electric vehicle prototypes at Media Day of the 2026 Canadian International Auto Show. autonews.com
The abrupt closure of El Paso’s airspace late Tuesday was precipitated when Customs and Border Protection officials deployed an anti-drone laser on loan from the Department of Defence without giving aviation officials enough time to assess the risks to commercial aircraft. nytimes.com
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