Well, static electricity has been well known and well documented since ancient times... that is about the same time as people started talking about fundamental elements.
I guess they just didn't consider it important enough.
(And yeah, they didn't know lightning is the same thing.)
To stop this, you need to force Americans to spend less (I.e. ignite a recession), or produce more.
Well, you need them to import less (i.e. stop making foreign government loans) or export less (i.e. start buying foreign government loans from other countries).
Neither of them is exactly a recession, but it's a large change that would trigger one if done badly. (AKA, the current administration will absolutely trigger one if they try - they aren't trying by the way.)
Oh, cool, it's already close to completely reversing the uptick from the Trump's ad.