Donald Quixote Keeps Tilting at Windmills

Read Trump’s lips: No new windmills.

The president-elect took time out of his rambling press conference on Tuesday to remind everyone just how much disdain he has for popular, efficient energy alternatives.  

“They turn to garbage … the only people that want them are the people getting rich off windmills, getting massive subsidies from the U.S. government.… They’re many many times more expensive than clean natural gas,” Trump said. “We’re gonna try and have a policy where no windmills are being built.”

Regardless of what Trump says, demand for wind energy is increasing—especially in red states. Last year wind farms created 22 percent of electricity generated in Texas and 59 percent of electricity  produced in Iowa. It’s an expanding, low-cost industry that employs 125,000 people.  

But the president-elect chooses to create his own narratives rather than engage with reality. “You see what’s happening up in the Massachusetts area with the whales.… They had two whales wash ashore in a 17-year period, and now they have 14 this season,” Trump said at the same press conference. “The windmills are driving the whales crazy … obviously.”

There is no scientific evidence to support that claim.