Trump is at it again. While giving a one hour speech at the Turning Point USA student action summit, he not only hit all the usual buttons but also launched into yet another bizarre rant against wind turbines, or to use the term he deployed, he attacked windmills.
In a previous rant against wind turbines he claimed that they cause cancer. One has to wonder if it would be possible to double down on such stupidity, but the man is truly gifted at doing exactly that, so what is it this time?
Basically these gems …
“I never understood wind. You know, I know windmills very much. They’re noisy. They kill the birds. You want to see a bird graveyard?
Go under a windmill someday. You’ll see more birds than you’ve ever seen in your life.”
Top 10 Trump Claims regarding “windmills”
OK so to sum up his position on wind, this pervasive source of hot air has claimed …
10. “I know windmills very much.”
9. “If it doesn’t blow, you can forget about television for that night.”
8. “You cannot allow these industrial monstrosities.”
7. “I’m not going to lose that wealth on dreams, on windmills, which, frankly are not working all that well.”
6. [Scottish offshore wind] “will be like looking through the bars of a prison and the Scottish citizens will be the prisoners.”
5. “I have been told by our attorneys, that we can bring a very large lawsuit and probably win the lawsuit based on the harm that these horrible things will do to Scotland.” [he lost].
4. “If you love birds, you’d never want to walk under a windmill, because it’s a very sad, sad sight. It’s like a cemetery. We put a little statue for the poor birds.”
3. “If you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations: Your house just went down 75% in value.”
2. “They say the noise causes cancer.”
1. “I never understood wind.”
That last one is a bit of a mystery. As a guy to constantly spouts hot air it should be a topic that is very familiar.
Debunking the latest Windmills claims
EuroNews did a fact check of his latest talk. To be honest I do wonder why they bothered. What is persistently true is that if he said it then it is most probably not true.
Briefly …
Claim #1: Manufacturing wind turbines creates tremendous fumes and gases
False. (Unlike him, they link to evidence to back up their debunking)
Claim #2: Wind turbines kill birds
This turns out to be true, but in the context of what kills birds, it turns out that domestic cats are far more lethal … yet strangely enough Mt T has opted to not oppose people having cats.
Claim #3: Wind turbines need replacing after a decade
False. Trump claimed that wind turbines’ lifespan is around 10 years but the EIA says it is more like between 20 and 25 years.
Claim #4: Wind turbines affect house prices … “And if you own a house within some of these monsters, you’re house is worth 50% of the price“
There is conflicting evidence on this. There might be a minor drop in some places, but the American Wind Energy Association said within a report in 2013 that house prices were not impacted. What is true is that his claim that your property will suffer a 50% drop is complete and utter gold-plated top-grade class-1 BS.
Don Quixote Trump
In the 1600s Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes wrote Don Quixote. This is now recognised as the most influential work of literature from the Spanish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon. It has been called “the first modern novel”, and is claimed to be the best literary work ever written.
The plot revolves around adventures of a noble named Alonso Quixano who decides to become a knight. Calling himself Don Quixote he recruits a neighbour, a simple farmer, to be his squire and then sets off on a series of adventures. The key to it all is that what he believes and how he responds is completely out of sync with the reality of the world as it actually is.
What is perhaps the most famous and well-known scene is where Don Quixote and Sancho come to a field of windmills. Don Quixote mistakes them for giants so he charges one at full speed, and his lance gets caught in the windmill’s sail, throwing him to the ground. Don Quixote assures Sancho that an enemy enchanter who has stolen his library (from an earlier scene) has now turned the giants into windmills at the last minute.
The beauty of this scene, the delusional thinking in play, is that it fits beautifully with Trump’s latest “windmills” claims.
The fact that Trump is completely out of sync with reality is not really a surprise or a shock. What should still mortify us is that there are many people ensnared by a cult-like devotion to the idiot-in-chief and happily applaud all his nonsense.
What is truly tragic is that when he goes down, and he will, he is taking all of them along with him.