Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was asked why Tesla CEO Elon Musk was not invited to a White House event during an interview on Fox News and he had a pretty good answer.

President Joe Biden met with major car manufacturers about the future of their lineups as climate change continues to ramp up because of carbon emissions. Musk opposes labor unions, moved his company from California to Texas to evade taxes, and has spouted misinformation about the coronavirus that undermines the Biden administration’s effort to end the pandemic. So, it makes sense that he was not invited to the event, especially since his company already exclusively manufactures electric vehicles.

Of course, Musk complained about not being invited to the event on Twitter.

And Fox News host Brett Baier tried to make it a big deal while interviewing Buttigieg.

“Tesla wasn’t invited to the White House event,” Baier said. “Why was that? Was it because Tesla is not unionized?”

Buttigieg pointed out that while union leaders were at the event, one of the big topics discussed was tailpipe emissions, and Tesla cars don’t have tailpipes.

“We were celebrating the other day the fact that we brought together labor leadership and the leadership of many of these employers of UAW,” Buttigieg said. “Now, what we are working on in our department and what we were announcing that day was tailpipe emissions standards. To their credit, an all-electric company like Tesla doesn’t even have tailpipes and that’s an exciting thing to see too.”

Here’s the video via YouTube:

It’s refreshing to have an administration that is focused on reducing emissions and fighting climate change. Disgraced Florida retiree Donald Trump infamously withdrew the United States from the Paris climate agreement and tried to force American car manufacturers to weaken mileage standards, with particular scorn for California’s stricter emissions standards that set the tone for the rest of the country since the state purchases the most vehicles.

Now the country is moving forward again by working to reduce emissions. Convincing the auto industry to make the switch to electric vehicles is a good start. Having an anti-union showboat like Musk in attendance would take the focus away from the issue at hand. And the issues are simply bigger than him.

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