Hoover brought up several great points, but one claim in particular drew a lot of negative attention.
Earlier last week, Tyler Hoover of @HooviesGarage tweeted out this below, telling his fans he “Got the info I needed…”
But, what was Hoover referring to?
Got the info I needed, sort of… thanks Twitter!
— Tyler Hoover (@HooviesGarage) February 5, 2022
Hoover, mostly known for his adventures buying and selling wildly depreciated cars as entertainment for his Youtube, decided to go rouge and, as he puts it, tweeted something political.
No, I do about one “political” post a year, usually asking something with an open mind, regret it when people say they hate me, and delete less than an hour later. It’s a fun game
— Tyler Hoover (@HooviesGarage) February 5, 2022
Thankfully for the confused, the internet never forgets (thanks to browser cache) and someone managed to screenshot the now deleted Tweet Hoover was talking about.
In his geopolitically-charged question, Hoover asked his followers, since the consensus is that trade relations with China and the United States is arguably toxic, why don’t we all collectively boycott Chinese goods?
As Hoover points out, China has a horrible reputation when it comes to human rights, trade practices, and taking advantage of the trade imbalance we share with them.
Unfortunately, Hoover also blankly blamed China for “starting Covid,” which sparked a firestorm of tweets, calling him out for what’s largely an unproven theory.
Starting covid?
— Mark Deavult (@MarkDeavult) February 5, 2022
Stay in your lane, Kansas.
Starting Covid? Cmon bro
— GimmehMyMoney (@ImStevenMoney) February 5, 2022
China starting COVID aside, Hoover’s tweet did bring up some logical responses and questions, even one from Hoover bringing up the mistreatment and genocide of the Uyghurs.
Below are some of the better responses.
Ok, but what about the Uyghurs and everything else? I wasn't aware of their plight until news coverage of it today as a balance of the opening ceremonies, and it's so sad that a nation that advanced and large is doing things like that.
— Tyler Hoover (@HooviesGarage) February 5, 2022
Hoovie doesnt even realize how many parts are made in China. Buddy if we start the boycott all your fleet will have no replacement parts in weeks. But I get the feeling
— franciscoguerrero.eth (@Guerrero_FJ) February 5, 2022
I saw it before it was clobbered. The answer is we're a society generations deep into selecting quantity over quality.
— Scott Johnson (@ScottJ175) February 5, 2022
The Chinese played the long game. This started right after Nixon visited China. US corporations were seduced with cheap labor, no regulations and greater profit opportunity. As long as US consumers keep buying cheap Chinese goods it will continue until China owns the world…
— G.Garner (@GGarner68) February 5, 2022
As Hoover quickly realized, simultaneously questioning and trying to reverse American consumer spending habits in one single tweet posed to a largely “we followed because of the cars” fanbase is a recipe for social media disaster.
Without a doubt, America’s capitalist marketplace fed by globalization and trade-friendly tarriffs is arguably feeding an already large trade imbalance and enabling an unhealthy dependence on cheap foreign goods.
I applaud Hoover for broaching the heated topic, but, a more nuanced approach keeping his audience in mind will probably work better.
How Hoover approaches and handles his next political tweet, we’ll have to wait till 2023 to see.
I wonder what Barret Jackson thinks of this