In Lansing, as a state senator and in Washington as a congressman, Democrat Kristen McDonald Rivet was one of Gotion’s top defenders.
You remember Gotion, the EV battery firm owned by the Chinese Communist Party, which wanted to set up shop in Big Rapids?
The community rejected Gotion, but politicians like Rivet and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer supported it at the highest levels. Together, they tried to subdue the community and its concerns, presenting the behemoth facility as too big to fight.
Locals didn’t listen. Instead, they fought back, leaving the company with little space to operate and few cooperative officials in the community.
Last year, the state ruled that Gotion was in default of its obligations and finally pulled the plug on the project. Because about $24 million of taxpayer money had been spent, Attorney General Dana Nessel is seeking a clawback of that money.
Gotion’s response: Good luck, lady.
McDonald Rivet, now running for a second term in Congress, approved the monies that must be clawed back. She voted “yes” on a $715 million corporate welfare package for Gotion and wrote off concerns of its Chinese ownership as “misinformation.”
It wasn’t. Gotion admitted it is controlled by the Chinese Community Party in its foreign-agent filings with the U.S. government.
In its response to Nessel, Gotion accused the state of “bowing to the anti-CCP rhetoric that animated Green Charter Township’s opposition and breach of the Development Agreement.”
If Gotion’s Chinese ownership was “misinformation,” why would anti-Chinese Community Party rhetoric be a roadblock? That line was Gotion issuing a burn notice to its Democrat supporters in Michigan, including McDonald Rivet.
The Chinese communists and the Michigan Democrats had no problem working together, until the deal blew up. When it did, Gotion had no problem saying exactly who owned the company, killing off any plausible deniability.
In Washington, with Gotion’s Chinese ownership widely known, McDonald Rivet voted against the law that banned Chinese companies from accessing green-energy tax credits.
The law benefits American companies by requiring that renewable energy infrastructure must be owned and built by American hands.
For those keeping score at home: McDonald Rivet was quick to vote “yes” to hand Gotion bags of cash but voted “no” on letting American companies lead in building green energy.
Fellow Michigan Congressman John Moolenaar, a Republican, championed that bill. In 2024, Moolenaar shot a video from the Gotion work site, explaining the dangers of letting a Chinese company set up shop that close to the Great Lakes and U.S. military facilities.
In a letter, Moolenaar raised concerns that Gotion benefited from slave labor.
None of it moved McDonald Rivet one inch toward a sense so common that even Whitmer and Nessel came to oppose the project.
Kristen McDonald Rivet was as good a friend as a Chinese Community Party-owned company could ever want. When it comes to defending American interests, not so much.
Now, as Nessel and the state seek a clawback for the failed project, McDonald Rivet’s voice has gone silent on the matter.
James David Dickson is host of the James Dickson Podcast. Join him on X at @downi75.
