I never thought I'd have a favorite auto executive

By Richard K. Barry

Ralph Gilles, Chrysler executive

Idiot extraordinaire Donald Trump tweeted yesterday that President Obama was a terrible negotiator, writing that "He bails out Chrysler and now Chrysler wants to send all Jeep manufacturing to China--and will."

The Detroit Free Press notes that the comment "drew a heated tweet from Chrysler Group Vice President for Product Design Ralph Gilles: "You are full of shit." Actually, they wrote that he said Trump was full of "@%#!," but that is not what Gilles tweeted.

Romney has not only been going around lying about Chrysler's intention to ship jobs overseas, he has produced political ads making the same claim that has been rejected as inaccurate by the car maker.

In fact, according to the Free Press:

Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionee told employees by email on Tuesday that all U.S. Jeep production would stay in place and would "constitute the backbone of the brand."

We've almost gotten used to Romney's lies, but when it actually frightens workers that their jobs might be disappearing, is that not finally too much? And if it isn't, what would be too much?

It's also incredible that the party that claims to know so much about big business can make auto executives so angry.

If Mitt Romney really thinks Donald Trump is a valuable ally, his judgment is well beyond suspect.

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)