--- title: "Crabby 82-Year-Old Politician Attacks 10-Year-Old Child for Thinking Electric Cars Are Cool" description: "North Carolinian politician Virginia Foxx attacked a 10-year-old child who expressed support for electric cars." date: "2026-05-15" modified: "2026-05-15" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/advanced-transport/politician-virginia-foxx-child-electric-cars" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Climate Change" - "Electric Vehicles" - "Energy" - "Environment" - "Finance" - "Fossil Fuels" - "Future Society" - "Global Warming" - "Pollution" - "Science & Energy" --- # Crabby 82-Year-Old Politician Attacks 10-Year-Old Child for Thinking Electric Cars Are Cool ![Close-up of North Carolinian politician Virginia Foxx. Her lips are slightly parted, and she appears to be speaking or reacting to something. The background is softly blurred.]() *Andrew Harnik / Getty; Futurism* North Carolinian congresswoman Virginia Foxx has never shied away from regressive takes. Over her many decades in politics, the 82-year-old representative has opposed everything from the [release of the Epstein files]() and [abortion for sexual assault survivors]() to [legalized gay marriage]() and even [aid for victims of Hurricane Katrina](). But as [flagged by the *Daily Beast*](), the octogenarian politician's latest broadside may take the cake. When a 10-year-old child wrote her a letter expressing support for electric cars, Foxx didn't agree to disagree — instead, she fulminated at the poor kid in a response that sounds more like a late night Donald Trump post on social media than a polite rejoinder to an engaged member of the public. "Your request that 'the federal government should give a $5,000 tax rebate for all new electric car purchases' means that the federal government must take that money out of the pockets of hardworking people who may not have the means to buy an electric vehicle in the first place," Foxx seethed in the letter, [posted on social media]() by the boy's mother. Back in the real world, research on the effects of EV tax credits suggests the type of convoluted trade-offs familiars to policy wonks everywhere. A [2024 Stanford study]() found that while they decrease pollution and help domestic auto manufacturers, they do impose certain costs on taxpayers. There are also hearty downstream benefits: researchers at Georgia Tech [recently found]() that simply getting more EVs on the road pushes down energy bills and gas prices for everybody by a striking margin — a compelling proposition in an era of surging gas prices caused by the Trump's war on Iran. Looming over all that are the more existential stakes: that while Foxx will die before the worst effects of climate change hit, future generations like the concerned kid who wrote to her will have to deal with the brunt of the repercussions, which will [almost certainly be brutal](). Foxx didn't have time for nuance, though, as she scolded the boy for the national debt crisis that her generation created, even attacking his teachers. "YOU and your classmates will be responsible for paying down the national debt," she fumed, directing the child to watch *Fox News* and read the *National Review* for more reliable information on the environment. "While I will never be able to know, my guess is that your teachers will not give you a good educational experience and help you learn to think, as they are too interested in indoctrinating you. How sad." **More on electric cars:** *[Cybertruck Recalled to Keep Its Wheels From Flying Off While Driving]()* ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()