Simultaneously forgetting where he was and clinging to his anti-environment rhetoric, Donald Trump mocked wind power at his campaign rally in Iowa on Wednesday.
. @realDonaldTrump disparages wind energy in Iowa speech. “I don’t want to just hope the wind blows to light up your homes.”
— Jason Noble (@jasonnobleDMR) June 22, 2017
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The only problem? Nearly a third of Iowa’s energy comes from wind power, and the Hawkeye State uses the highest percentage of the energy than any other state in the country.
Oops.
Not only did the president ignorantly attack the alternative form of energy, but as The Hill noted, he also bragged about being a huge advocate for coal and took credit for the opening of a new coal plant in Pennsylvania.
Suffice it to say that many people in Iowa – perhaps not those inside the auditorium, but many folks in the state nonetheless – weren’t happy to hear the President of the United States slam a form of energy that their state has led the way in implementing.
But this type of rhetoric should come as no surprise given Trump’s history of making ignorant statements about environmental issues.
At a Pennsylvania campaign rally last summer, then-candidate Trump said that wind power is bad because it “kills all your birds.”
He added, “All your birds, killed. The environmentalists never talk about that.”
Before he was even a candidate for president or a political figure, Trump took to Twitter to float the outrageous conspiracy theory that climate change is a hoax created by the Chinese. He still hasn’t backed away from that prosperous idea.
So the type of rhetoric he spewed on Wednesday night in Iowa may be disappointing to those across the country and world who are sad to see the United States led by someone with such little knowledge on environmental issues, but it’s par for the course.
If only the United States could harness Trump’s hot air – then all of this talk of finding alternative forms of energy would be a moot point.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
