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BlueWaveNeverEnd

(13,550 posts)
Mon Feb 16, 2026, 12:12 AM 6 hrs ago

Fury as Trump's policies 'force' giant car factory in Kentucky to shut at cost of 1,600 jobs

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/article-15554329/Fury-Trumps-policies-force-giant-car-factory-shut-cost-1-600-jobs.html

Four months after it opened with promises of stable, high-paying factory jobs, a $5.8 billion Ford-backed battery plant in Kentucky is sitting idle - and 1,600 workers are out of work.


Ford and South Korean battery manufacturer SK On opened the sprawling 1,500-acre site in Glendale in summer 2025, and it was hailed as a game changer for the region.

By December, that optimism had evaporated when the companies ended their joint venture at the site. Soon after, Ford said it would idle the facility for roughly 18 months while shifting production toward energy storage systems instead of car batteries.

Ford says the slowdown in EV demand - blamed in part with changes in federal policy under President Donald Trump - upended the company’s original plans.

Kentucky’s Democratic governor Andy Beshear blamed the President.

'Those are 1,600 Kentuckians that lost their jobs solely because of Donald Trump pushing that big, ugly bill, eliminating the credits that had people interested and excited to buy EVs,' Beshear told the New York Times.

'I bet many, if not most, of them voted for him, and he basically fired them.'
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Fury as Trump's policies 'force' giant car factory in Kentucky to shut at cost of 1,600 jobs (Original Post) BlueWaveNeverEnd 6 hrs ago OP
if they voted for him, FUCK THEM Skittles 5 hrs ago #1
Omg..the hearts are gone. 😢 😭 BlueWaveNeverEnd 5 hrs ago #3
yes, it is a limited time Skittles 1 hr ago #10
ETTD dweller 5 hrs ago #2
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Initech 5 hrs ago #4
"we didn't vote for this" Skittles 1 hr ago #11
What did they have to lose? czarjak 5 hrs ago #5
Well, it worked.. Permanut 3 hrs ago #9
"Well, ya know, SHE would have been worse." BaronChocula 4 hrs ago #6
The plant is being converted to produce battery energy storage systems, Bayard 4 hrs ago #7
Hey Kentucky! sheshe2 3 hrs ago #8

Initech

(108,126 posts)
4. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
Mon Feb 16, 2026, 12:35 AM
5 hrs ago

You wanted the fucking asshole in charge, you get everything that comes with him. Don't say we didn't warn you. Now bow your head and say "d'oh".

BaronChocula

(4,247 posts)
6. "Well, ya know, SHE would have been worse."
Mon Feb 16, 2026, 01:16 AM
4 hrs ago

"I mean, I'd still have a job, but ummm, she would have been worse."

Bayard

(29,080 posts)
7. The plant is being converted to produce battery energy storage systems,
Mon Feb 16, 2026, 01:24 AM
4 hrs ago

Which will employ over 2,000 people. The 1,600 were laid off, not fired, and could be brought back once the factory is retooled.

My understanding is that many of the 1,600 were not from Kentucky, and the contractors were from all over the place. The plant is down the road from us. A whole bunch of the farm land surrounding the plant, (which was also built on farm land,) was bought up and being developed for residentiall projects to accomodate new employees. Land prices skyrocketed around here.

I guess what I'm saying is that this isn't a case of stupid Kentucky MAGAts getting what they voted for necessarily.

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