At a rally in Michigan this week, Donald Trump unleashed a strange monologue about how we should only build gas-powered cars in the future, because we have lots of gasoline and China doesn’t. Translation: China has a huge lead in electric vehicles, so we shouldn’t even try to compete. Why isn’t all this more central in the presidential race? We chatted with Princeton professor Jesse Jenkins, a sharp observer of the energy transition and host of the weekly Shift Key podcast. He explained how Trump’s bizarre comments are essentially an admission that he’d surrender the future to China. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices