Victor Davis Hanson: Never Trumpers Told Us Trump Would Be Liberal, He Wasn't; No Alternative Agenda

Real Clear Politics ^ | July 6,2016 | Posted By Ian Schwartz

[Hojczyk]

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Barack Obama got elected twice but he was an ungodly disaster for the Democratic party. They lost the supermajority, they lost the Senate, they lost the House, they lost 1,000 local state and local offices, they're going to lose the Supreme Court. And they can't come to grips with the fact that they control popular cultural -- sports, universities, the media -- but that turns into this type of street theater you referenced. It doesn't transfer into actual political power and they're very frustrated.

The Never Trumpers told us that Trump would be a moderate or a liberal. He wasn't. The Heritage Foundation said he was more conservative in his first 2 years than Ronald Reagan. The left said he was going to implode or that the Mueller investigation, or impeachment, or the emoluments clause, or they were going to sue under the 25th Amendment. None of that happened. So Trump is almost 50% approval rating.

And the final thing is there's no alternative agenda. We don't know what your speaker, your guest, what do they feel about taxes? Do they want more government? More regulation? Less? Is the Iran deal good or bad? We don't hear any of that. Instead, they fixate on somebody like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, kind of an obscure 28-year-old who won an election with 20% turnout and suddenly that's a metaphor for a brave new world. So it's a frustration that they don't translate their cultural influence into raw political power.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/03/business/energy-environment/solar-industry-tariffs.html

SunPower is the nation’s No. 2 commercial solar-power company, employing thousands of workers directly and indirectly. But it makes most of its solar panels abroad, and with the tariffs recently imposed by President Trump costing it as much as $2 million a week, SunPower is fighting for an exemption.

One of its rivals, SolarWorld Americas, produces panels domestically. Buffeted by foreign competition, it was behind the original push for the tariffs.

Now the two American companies are merging.

It’s all part of the disruption, distortion and uncertainty from an escalating trade offensive aimed primarily at China. In barely three months, the tariffs — the first shot fired by Mr. Trump in that campaign — are fundamentally reshaping the solar industry and its prospects.

A Chinese player announced plans to open a factory in Florida as early as this fall. With its SolarWorld acquisition, SunPower moved to prevent further loss to its business by locating a bigger share of its production in the United States.

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Trump tariffs are helping more than double U.S. solar capacity

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-trump-solar-tariffs-20180530-story.html

President Trump wanted more U.S. solar manufacturing — and now he’s getting it.

Hanwha Q Cells Korea on Wednesday said it will build a factory in Georgia. JinkoSolar Holding Co. of China is planning one in Florida. And U.S. companies SunPower Corp. and First Solar Inc. say they’ll boost production in Oregon and Ohio.