Nevada Has Enough Lithium to Cure Manic-Depression but not RINOism

By an Old-Fashioned Observer of Common Sense and Uncommon Nonsense

It has been my lifelong observation—born of long years loafing along muddy riverbanks, dusty roads, and under canopies of Redwood trees—that when a fellow calls himself a Republican but starts acting like a Democrat in church clothes, the only suitable word for him is RINO, and that is the very species our tale concerns. One Governor Joe Lombardo of Nevada, a man whose collar is plenty stiff but whose spine seems less so, has taken it upon himself to write a letter—not with quill or gumption, but with the sort of soft ink that runs when trouble comes—to President Donald J. Trump, imploring His Excellency to lift tariffs on lithium.

Before I go any further, let me set one matter straight as a rowboat’s keel–President Trump did not impose tariffs to make life hard on Nevadan miners or hinder the blessed miracle of American invention. He did it to put a boot to the backside of China–and perhaps a few Wall Street crooks besides, who have long made a game of gutting the American economy like a catfish on a Saturday night.

But what does Governor Lombardo say? He says Nevada is “uniquely positioned” to lead in energy innovation.

That sounds mighty fine on a stump speech, and it might even fetch applause in a Reno cocktail hall, but it carries no water when it comes to loyalty. You see, it’s one thing to believe in energy progress, but it’s another to believe Nevada deserves a special exemption just because ol’ Joe Lombardo slapped a bumper sticker on his car that said Trump 2024.

That’s not statesmanship—that’s horse-trading.

The good Governor complains that lithium is getting dug up in Nevada, sent to Canada and Mexico for refining, and then hauled back into the United States like a long-lost cousin at a family reunion, only with a hefty import fee. He moans that these tariffs, designed to keep China from licking the cream from America’s plate, make it hard for Nevada companies to compete.

Well, I ask you—who told them to ship their raw lithium out like bootleg whiskey instead of building a smelter in the land of sagebrush and sage advice? President Trump didn’t. He’s been hollering for American industry to come home since he rode down the golden escalator.

And now this Governor, who calls himself a Republican, wants to cut a side deal? Why? ‘Cause Nevada’s got lithium deposits? So do other states. They just ain’t whining about it. Lombardo wants the President to make an exception—for his state, his donors, and his idea of the future.

That’s not federalism. That’s favoritism.

Let me tell you something I learned from an old mule driver on the banks of the Klamath River: “Any jackass can pull a cart downhill. It takes a team to pull it up.”

President Trump is trying to pull America back uphill. It ain’t easy. It ain’t polite. But it’s necessary. And the last thing he needs is some high-polished RINO tossing rocks in the road because he figures Nevada ought to ride in a carriage while the rest of us walk.

If Governor Lombardo wants to get remembered as more than a man with a letterhead–he’d do well to start standing for the tariffs and building American refining in Nevada–where the dirt’s still rich with promise, and the people still know what hard work is. But if all he wants is an exemption for himself and his backers, then I say he ought to trade that elephant pin for a donkey tail and get done with it.

As for President Trump is doing what few men dared—put America first. And no letter from a tariff-fearing RINO in the desert ought to change that.