Jim Hightower's Radio Lowdown

Would You Buy a Lump of Coal from Trump?

Has your family consumed its lump of coal today? One of the most perverse presidential moves ever is Trump’s Big Government decree to force feed “King Coal” to Americans. Proclaiming an “energy emergency,” he unilaterally ordered five electric utilities to re-open their old, coal-burning power plants [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/11/climate/as-coal-rebounds-more-mercury-a-potent-toxin-is-in-the-air.html]. These are toxic bombs, that continuously spew mercury, carbon dioxide, and a mix of other killer pollutants into our air, water, and bodies. Mercury emissions are especially vicious, causing early death in adults and permanent IQ damages to fetuses and children. Even the president’s own health secretary has excoriated mercury pollution from coal-fired utilities as “the most powerful neurotoxin we know of in the universe.” [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/11/climate/as-coal-rebounds-more-mercury-a-potent-toxin-is-in-the-air.html] That’s why We the People have rebelled against the greed of coal barons in past years, finally replacing their deadly fuel with wind power, solar, and other renewable energy sources – which also lowers consumers’ electric bills. So why push to re-impose a horrific corporate poison that the people have already rejected – and that progressive utilities have moved beyond? Crass corruption. By hailing dirty coal as “beautiful,” while demonizing and defunding clean energy, Trump has been showered with millions of dollars from old-line coal profiteers [https://publicintegrity.org/politics/oil-gas-and-coal-interests-filling-donald-trumps-swamp-with-cash/]. And never underestimate vanity – he even got a custom bronze trophy from the polluters, hailing him as the “Undisputed Champion of Beautiful Clean Coal. [https://climatepower.us/news/let-them-eat-coal-trump-accepts-coal-king-award-while-families-struggle-to-pay-their-energy-bills/]” After America began replacing coal with clean energy, mercury pollution plummeted. But by restarting coal-fired utilities last year, Trump has already increased mercury emissions by 9 percent. Since he tries to merchandize everything, though, you might be able to buy an autographed lump of coal from him. Do something! * The Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal” [https://www.sierraclub.org/coal] campaign is a great place to find all kinds of resources for taking action, making local change, and more. * Money in politics remains the thorn in our collective sides, so you can also check out End Citizens United [https://www.endcitizensunited.org/] to get involved on that front. Jim Hightower's Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe [https://jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

A.I. Billionaires to Grassroots People: Shut Up!

REMINDER! Join us TONIGHT at 6pm CT [https://jimhightower.substack.com/p/live-with-hightower-author-cory-haala] for happy hour live with Cory Haala, author of “When Democrats Won the Heartland.” Other than the fact that they are such blood-sucking greedheads, why have today’s multibillionaires, high-tech barons of AI become so despised by so many grassroots Americans? By “so many,” I mean they’ve sparked a hell-raising mass revolt, originating in farm country, spreading through working-class suburbs, into community colleges, and other centers of Middle America – now including environmental, religious, and democracy movements. This is a genuine populist rebellion of workaday families against the corporate oligarchy of Musk, Zuckerberg, Altman, Bezos, and other “geniuses” of artificial intelligence. The billionaires are racing to install millions of supersmart A.I. robots in nearly every workplace, from manufacturing to health care, farming to finance. Amazingly, the tech elites consider themselves to be “humanitarians,” for they say turning work over to A.I. would free humans to… well, do what? Geniuses can’t bothered with such mundane details, so they’re not interested of soon-to-be displaced masses of people who’ll be “made redundant.” So – hello – people are revolting (in the very best sense of that term). Interestingly, some of the strongest backlash is coming from a huge group generally assumed to be politically apathetic or enthusiastic about all technology: Young people. Columnist [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/opinion/ai-boo-commencement-speeches.html]Michelle Goldberg [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/opinion/ai-boo-commencement-speeches.html] reports [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/opinion/ai-boo-commencement-speeches.html] that several tech honchos who’ve given college commencement speeches this month were startled when they launched into gushing praise for the glorious future promised by A.I. They were practically driven off-stage by roaring cascades of boos from the students [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/opinion/ai-boo-commencement-speeches.html]! The pain that A.I. profiteers are imposing is one thing, but an even greater cause of this spreading revolt is the imperious arrogance and stupidity of royal elites who think ordinary people don’t matter. Did these oligarchs never hear about the revolution of 1776? Do something! To stay on top of the rapid development of AI and its impact on the public interest, check out the work of the AI Now Institute, ainowinstitute.org [https://ainowinstitute.org/]. Jim Hightower's Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe [https://jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

The Inequality Merry-Go-Round Built By Stanley Tools

In this day of AI smart tools, it’s easy to forget that we humans once relied on “dumb” hand tools like saws, drills, screwdrivers, and wrenches. For decades, a major maker of these trusty instruments has been a company in New Britain, Connecticut, appropriately named The Stanley Works. Today, having taken over other big brands like Craftsman and Black & Decker, Stanley is a $15-billion-a-year conglomerate, and many former-workers are asking, “Stanley works for whom?” That’s because corporate top executives have quietly orchestrated a decades-long move of Stanley factories out of our country, abandoning the skilled machinists who literally made the brand successful. The final blow comes this week, when Stanley will shut down the last of its redbrick factories in New Britain [https://ctmirror.org/2026/02/27/stanley-black-decker-factory-closing/]. An odd move, since workers there produced one of Stanley’s most iconic products: The “PowerLock” tape measure. It is enormously popular – indeed, I have two of them. Yet, corporate bosses claim that cheaper, foreign-made tape measures now dominate the market, so – Poof! – goodbye 300 American jobs. But wait, Stanley didn’t eliminate the jobs, it just moved them [https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/storied-toolmaker-closes-its-last-hometown-plant-and-blames-its-tape-measures/ar-AA22tvMI]. To Thailand, where labor is paid 75% less than in Connecticut. Indeed, the major foreign competitor to Stanley turns out to be… Stanley! It has been building modernized production factories in Thailand, even as it divested in US factories and increased shipments of its foreign-made tape measures to the US. Stanley’s CEO was paid $7.6 million last year. Nice, but now, the paychecks of 300 more workers can be reallocated to global shareholders… and give another hike in the chief’s pay. And that’s how the Inequality Merry-Go-Round keeps spinning… round and round and round. Do something! To fight for good jobs and an economy that benefits everyone, check out and support the work of Jobs with Justice, jwj.org [http://jwj.org]. Jim Hightower's Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe [https://jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

The Invasion of Water-Sucking Billionaires

In America’s frontier days, anyone diverting a town’s creek water to their private, profiteering purpose was not merely considered wrong, but guilty of Biblical-level immorality. That was BBE, however – “Before Billionaire Ethics.” Today, a cohort of über-rich hucksters – including Bezos, Altman, Musk, and Zuckerberg – have unilaterally decreed that they are above such moral fussiness, entitled to exploit the scarce water resources of millions of Americans, especially in rural areas. They’re not irrigating crops, but continuously spritzing hundreds of thousands of the super-computers they’re “planting” in the hyperscale AI data centers being built across the country. These are “computer ranches,” digesting and constantly spewing out electronic data to run artificial intelligence bots that the tech billionaires are creating to replace us human workers. Jobs aside, each of these concrete complexes is a massive water hog. Amazon, Meta, and the rest use [https://www.brookings.edu/articles/ai-data-centers-and-water/]millions of gallons a day [https://www.brookings.edu/articles/ai-data-centers-and-water/] of fresh, unrecycled water [https://www.brookings.edu/articles/ai-data-centers-and-water/], just to keep their computers cool. Hello – states like Texas face recurring drought, yet billionaires insist on draining our aquifers and rivers to water their computers! In Texas alone, more than 400 of these sprawling data centers have already been built or are under construction. Meanwhile, a grassroots “What The Hell” movement is spreading across the country. But don’t expect billionaires to show even an iota of respect for the Common Good. Indeed, they’re now funding an all-out PR blitz and political campaign to demonize these local rebellions. Worse, they are doubling down on their plutocratic power grab, demanding that Congress pre-emptively outlaw state and local officials from regulating, much less barring, these invasive schemes. To help battle these profiteering b******s, go to www.mediajustice.org/tools [http://www.mediajustice.org/tools]. Jim Hightower's Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe [https://jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

The Sad Ballad of the Big Fool

Years ago, when America was mired in the horror of the Vietnam war, Pete Seeger wrote a lament about the stupidity and vanity of leaders who keep plunging us into such mindless disasters. It was a song about the Big Muddy: “The captain told us to ford a river,That’s how it all begun.We were knee deep in the Big MuddyBut the big fool said to push on. “It’ll be a little soggy, but just keep sloggingWe’ll soon be on dry ground.We were waist deep in the Big Muddy,And the big fool said to push on. “All we need is a little determination.Men, follow me, I’ll lead.We were neck deep in the Big MuddyAnd the big fool said to push on.” Unfortunately, the big fool is back, this time miring our nation in another of those witless wars of choice that he had ridiculed when running for President. But, doing the bidding of Israel’s corrupt government, Trump attacked Iran. He blustered that the “skirmish” would be over in days, Iran would surrender everything, our gasoline prices would go down, peace would blossom throughout the Middle East, and world leaders would rally ‘round America. None of that happened. Instead, Trump has splurged 25 billion of our dollars on this foray (so far), Iran’s leadership has outwitted Trump’s feckless Pentagon chief, and they now control the global price of oil. To divert attention from the embarrassment of his needless war, our huckster-in-chief is now doing PR events touting the “grandeur” of that billion-dollar luxury ballroom he wants to tack onto our White House – a rich-boy add-on that only the billionaire class will go into. Of all the things America actually needs, he is focused on a sparkly ballroom. And the big fool says to push on. Jim Hightower's Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe [https://jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]