Things Aren't Looking Good

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Because I wanted to talk about my Tesla Takedown report earlier this week, today is the premium issue day of The Kirchner Report. It’s not all doom and gloom, but it does feel a bit doom and gloomy. There’s some hope, though, at the end.

In This Issue

• The Trump and Musk Fear Is Real

• Look, I Get It

• Doom and Gloom

• Mr. Brightside

The Trump and Musk Fear Is Real

A few weeks back, I penned an open letter to automakers asking them to stand up to Trump and Musk to stop the ridiculous tariffs and save the economy from crashing. I felt it was important for automakers to do that since it takes a robust economy with people making money to spend on the expensive new cars that automakers sell. It seems like an easy win for the companies and their shareholders, with the added benefit of not screwing everything up for the 330 million Americans who live here.

I heard some interesting feedback from that letter. More people from within automakers reached out to me than from any other post I’ve made on these digital pages, and I have confidence that some of the intended audience for that letter reached the appropriate destination.

Some of the feedback explained that their company was using the lobbying means at their disposal to work behind the scenes. Others simply stated that they believed they were going to just wait things out.

It appears that “rolling over” is actually what most are doing.

The New York Times reported that President Trump had a call with the top executives at Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, and told them to “get on board” with tariffs. They are happening on April 2nd, 2025 and there’s nothing they can do about it.

A short-term battle was won, with the one-month reprieve (which was stupid, by the way, because a month isn’t enough time to operationally do anything), and that with that victory it was time to throw in the towel.

I would argue that there is absolutely a point in continuing to fight. Approval of Trump’s tariffs is low, and dealerships are starting to predict massive slowdowns. The same dealerships that likely voted Trump into office, to begin with, are ringing the warning bells.

Jim Seavitt, who owns Village Ford in Dearborn, Michigan told the Detroit Free Press that everything is awful.

When I was in grad school, one of our professors worked in the financial services industry. He described the day before the announced bailout of the banks as surreal. He noted during one class that he just sat, looking out his window and traffic and people going about their business, and thought “These people have no idea the economy is about to completely collapse.”

That’s how it feels right now for me, seeing all of these warning signs of an impending trainwreck — both with the economy and with the rise of fascism — and people in power are just sitting on their hands, and the general public still doesn’t know what’s going on because companies like Sinclair own every TV station in the country.

But I digress.

Even though the UAW is bigly supportive of Trump’s tariffs — which is incredibly stupid because it lacks any knowledge of how the economy and automotive works — there is clearly disagreement amongst its ranks.

Also talking to the Free Press is an unnamed local UAW leader.

So a lot of the UAW leadership knows things are bad. Dealerships — some who even voted for Trump — know it’s bad. The public even knows it’s bad — at least to some extent — because of the price of groceries and stuff. But the fight is over and we just have to accept that it can’t be changed.

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Look, I Get It

I get it. I’m scared, too. Standing up to a fascist-leaning government is difficult, especially when that government is on a personal vendetta for its Commander-in-Chief. It’s easy to look at a story like what happened at USIP — where DOGE entered the private property with the help of the police and USIP’s security who changed sides, threatened the staff with guns, and ransacked the place — and easily see that happening in your own corporate offices. Heck, you might even be concerned about a Bud Light situation (which is ridiculous because you should always stand up for human rights). But at any rate, you have some sort of concern and that’s valid.

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