Roy Lewallen wrote:

Well, it's obvious that an electric field can move an electron. The
Lorentz force law tells us how much force results from a given E field,
and we can get the resulting acceleration from Newtonian physics. An
everyday example is an oscilloscope deflection system which uses an
electric field to deflect electrons. (Actually, modern digital scopes
typically use raster displays with magnetic deflection -- but many of
still have older analog types with electric field deflection.)

Yes, I thought that much was obvious as well.

But if the antenna conductor were perfect, no E field at all could exist
at the wire surface regardless of the amplitude of the E field of the
oncoming wave. The wave's E field therefore couldn't directly influence
the electrons in the (perfect) conductor. Only the H field of the wave,
then, can induce a current in the perfect conductor. The direct
influence of the E field on an imperfect conductor would be highly
dependent on the conductivity of the wire, and I'd guess it would be
very small compared to the influence of the H field from a typical
oncoming wave on an electron in a good conductor. Maybe that's what he
was saying.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

It could be what he was saying. But conductors are are called
conductors for a reason, and it's not necessarily because they conduct
magnetic fields well.

73, ac6xg