In an interview earlier this month on Tucker Carlson Tonight, Mayor Andrea Zupancich, one of six Democrat mayors from Minnesota who have endorsed President Donald Trump for reelection, explained that her support is tied to the Trump administration’s pro-mining agenda.
In the backdrop of the interview is a major decision awaiting the Trump administration as it’s poised to make a permitting decision on Pebble Mine, the world’s largest undeveloped copper and gold mine.
Mayor Zupancich stated her endorsement is due to President Trump’s strong support for mining rights and the hard-working individuals of mining communities. Zupancich also criticized the Democrat Party for failing to represent her community and for ignoring the importance of copper and other precious metals critical for developing cleaner energy.
“We are sitting on billions of tons of copper, nickel, and precious metals. Everything that supports the green deal energy that everyone wants right now, and we are just not seeing the support on the other side,” Zupancich explained.
“You can’t have energy of any kind without copper,” host Tucker Carlson agreed. “And you supply it. That’s not a negotiable. You have to have it,” he continued.
Mayor Zupancich is not the only Minnesota politician touting the importance of the Trump administration’s pro-mining agenda. Congressman Pete Stauber (R-Minn.) recently stressed the importance of Polymet Mine, a proposed copper and nickel mine in Minnesota awaiting permitting approval from the Trump administration and estimated to generate more than $500 million in annual economic activity. Rep. Stauber told Forbes that opening the mine would be akin to “bringing the Super Bowl up to northeastern Minnesota every year.”
Rep. Stauber also urged the Trump administration to stay the course on permitting for critical mining projects such as Pebble Mine, explaining that Minnesotans are now watching what the Trump administration is doing on Pebble Mine and hoping that the President will reject pressure from the environmental left.
Stauber noted that “to see the administration allow outside influences change the course of this potential project without going through the normal regulatory process, without allowing science, facts and the truth to dictate” would be cause for great concern in his state. Stauber also echoed Mayor Zupancich’s criticism of Democrats for not backing American mining. “Projects in Minnesota continue to be delayed by outside, well-funded political machines and it was a hallmark of the Obama-Biden administration,” exclaimed Stauber.
Minnesota, like many other states, has a strong mining community made up of small towns that provides copper and critical minerals for our entire nation’s energy grid. The elected leaders of these communities, regardless of their political party, are beginning to make it clear that they stand with the Trump administration’s pro-mining agenda.
The exchange between Tucker Carlson and Mayor Zupancich is below:
DEMOCRAT MAYOR ANDREA ZUPANCICH – BABBITT, MINNESOTA: “It’s not a matter of who we are supporting. It is a matter of what the Democratic party is representing right now. President Trump is actually supporting our mining ways, our rights, and everything else we stand for up here. We are hard-working individuals. We’ve got an amazing workforce up here. And we just don’t see the backing with the minerals that we have up here. We are sitting on billions of tons of copper, nickel, and precious metals. Everything that supports the green deal energy that everyone wants right now, and we are just not seeing the support on the other side.”
TUCKER: “Right. You made two good points. You can’t have energy of any kind without copper. And you supply it. That’s not a negotiable. You have to have it.”
MAYOR: “We don’t want to be getting our minerals from somewhere where they have child labor working and no safety standards. When we have it all right here. We have the strictest environmental standards and everything else going on. I would much rather drink the water out of my tap than down in other metro areas.”
TUCKER: “For 100 years the Democratic party was the party that represented people in your town who worked in the Iron Range. People who worked. Now they [Democrats] are not [representing the area]. What happened?”