Joe Lockhart

Joe Lockhart

Choosing when to take a stand, and what to reveal to the public are not always straightforward decisions. There are, for example, times when releasing the operational details of the military puts lives at risk. It begs the question: What's more important, telling the truth or protecting lives? Jody Powell faced that decision under Jimmy Carter and decided saving lives trumped telling the press the truth during the Iranian hostage crisis.

I faced my own test early in my tenure as press secretary. As the House opened impeachment hearings on then-President Bill Clinton based on the Starr report, I was faced with the daily decision of how to answer questions about the President's behavior.

Not knowing the full extent of what had happened, I chose not to contest the details in the report from the podium even though for many that seemed to be a confirmation of the allegations.

Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany faced her moment of reckoning in the briefing room on Wednesday, when reporters confronted her about the recordings, released by veteran journalist Bob Woodward, in which President Trump acknowledged in early February that the coronavirus was airborne and deadlier than the flu, even as he publicly dismissed concerns about the virus and called it the Democrats' "new hoax." In March, Trump told Woodward that he intentionally downplayed the dangers of the virus, saying, "I always wanted to play it down. I still like playing it down, because I don't want to create a panic."

Trump damns himself with his own words

Trump damns himself with his own words

McEnany failed on an epic scale in her response. She did not provide context for Trump's statements. Instead, she perpetuated the lies even the President himself admitted to Woodward on tape.

She also tried to pass off Trump's comments as a sign of good leadership, saying, "So this President does what leaders do ... stay calm and resolute at a time when you face an unsurmountable challenge." But real leadership is telling the truth and taking responsibility for it. Only then can the American public trust that the President is looking out for their interests, not just his own.

When asked directly if the President had lied to the American public, McEnany had the gall to say, "The President has never lied to the American public on Covid."

That is patently false. The President has repeatedly lied to the American people about the coronavirus and the government's handling of the pandemic. He is now lying about lying. By claiming otherwise, McEnany reneged on the promise she made to reporters on her first day as press secretary when she said she would never lie to them.

Woodward can't be blamed for withholding revelations about Trump's early handling of the pandemic 

Woodward can't be blamed for withholding revelations about Trump's early handling of the pandemic

In doing so, McEnany has destroyed her own personal credibility and fatally injured her ability to speak for the President, and more importantly, for the United States of America. Given her track record, foreign allies can't rely on what she says at the White House podium. This poses a national security risk to the United States.

To be fair, McEnany was caught between a rock and a hard place. But the press secretary works for both the President and the American people, providing a vital link between the two. The only appropriate response in this case, was to say, "The President's word speaks for itself. I am not going to parse them or interpret them for you." That's one way to maintain credibility while sending a clear signal the President is not telling the truth.

McEnany, however, has shown she is more interested in defending the President than informing the public, and her only recourse now is to resign.

The public has a right to question whether the President is trustworthy and honest. And while the press secretary is not an elected official, whoever inhabits the role should be careful to protect his or her own credibility. Without it, the press secretary becomes nothing more than a propagandist instead of a public servant.

By saying the President has never lied to the American public, her tenure as Press Secretary has effectively come to an end -- and her role as a state propagandist has been confirmed.

Bill Gates has thrown some cold water on the Tesla Semi project and recent comments from Elon Musk about the possibility of commercial electric airplanes.

Is he right?

In recent years, Gates has focused on using his fortune to try and fix major problems in the world.

He is getting more attention lately due to his early warnings of the world not being ready for a pandemic prior to the COVID-19 crisis.

Now, he is using his platform to issue a similar warning about climate change:

Earlier this month, I wrote about how COVID-19 is a cautionary tale for climate change. There’s no doubt that we have experienced terrible suffering and economic hardship over the last several months. But as hard as it is to imagine right now when we’re still in the middle of the pandemic, climate change has the potential to be even more devastating.

In a new blog post, he emphasizes the need to electrify transport in order to address climate change.

However, he made some controversial comments about the segments going electric.

Gates does believe that passenger vehicles are going to be electrified, and they already are to a degree:

“Plus, increased competition in the market means there are more choices available to customers than ever before, from compact sedans to sleek sports cars. You’ll even be able to buy an all-electric pick-up truck soon thanks to legacy companies like GM and Ford and new carmakers like Rivian and Bollinger.”

The Microsoft founder, who used to drive a Model X, snubbed Tesla and its Cybertruck in mentioning electric pickup trucks.

No big deal, but where Gates’ comments get more controversial is that he claims that electric semi-trucks, like Tesla Semi, and electric jets, will “probably never” happen:

“The problem is that batteries are big and heavy. The more weight you’re trying to move, the more batteries you need to power the vehicle. But the more batteries you use, the more weight you add—and the more power you need. Even with big breakthroughs in battery technology, electric vehicles will probably never be a practical solution for things like 18-wheelers, cargo ships, and passenger jets. Electricity works when you need to cover short distances, but we need a different solution for heavy, long-haul vehicles.”

That’s despite several electric semi-truck programs, like Tesla Semi and the Freightliner eCascadia, being quite far along.

As for electric airplanes, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been predicting that they would become viable once batteries reach an energy density of 400 Wh/kg, which many battery manufacturers are currently working on.

Instead, Gates suggests biofuels as a potential alternative to batteries for those segments of transportation.

I won’t pretend to be smarter than Bill Gates, but I’d like for him to revisit these comments because I think he is not looking at it the right way.

First of all, it’s not all about batteries being “big and heavy.”

If you look at the problem through that lens, you assume that we have reached the efficiency limit for all those types of vehicles (trucks, cargo ships, and planes).

I don’t think that’s true.

With the electrification of passenger cars, manufacturers have doubled down on their efforts to improve efficiency in order to use fewer batteries in their vehicles and they have found plenty of room for improvements.

As we start to electrify trucks and planes, we will likely find new efficiency improvements because “necessity is the mother of invention.”

We just didn’t have that need until now.

But if you want to focus on the batteries, I find it kind of crazy that he doesn’t believe they will improve enough to enable electric trucks and planes.

Especially when you consider that he is a major investor in Quantumscape, which claims that its technology is going to enable 500 Wh/kg batteries:

That would be more than enough to enable long-range electric 18-wheelers and even commercial jet planes.