By Matthew Cahill
On September 23, during an address to UN General Assembly, US President, Donald Trump, referred to climate change as “the greatest con job ever perpetrated in the world” and that climate change predictions “were wrong” and made by “stupid people.” Naturally, his remarks drew immediate criticism from environmentalists, world leaders and those with basic common sense. But what exactly are Trump’s views on the climate crisis, and why do windmills (or rather, wind turbines) seem to haunt him so deeply?
Through several press conferences, interviews and one-on-one meetings – most recently with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer – Trump has revealed a deep fascination with windmills. Most people, of course, realise he means wind turbines, but it’s often unclear whether he truly does. To be fair, America’s old-fashioned farm windmills mostly exist now as quaint relics of the 19th century, not as threats to national greatness. One can only hope that the self-proclaimed leader of the free world isn’t planning a crusade against historical landmarks, though it wouldn’t be the first time he’s waged war on the past.
I find it almost comical, though hardly inconceivable that his aversion to windmills dates back to a legal battle involving one of his properties in Scotland. I’ll allow a moment to guess which plot of land this may concern. One. Two. Three. Chances are you don’t need the full-five seconds – yes, his golf course! He claimed that an offshore windfarm “near” his beloved course was a “really ugly” project, and said that it would ruin his views. Since then, his hostility toward renewable energy has only intensified, morphing into a mix of myth, misunderstanding, and political jest.
I do, in some small way, feel a twinge of sympathy for the man. After all, if someone proposed building a 100-foot structure next to my local pub, I’d be outraged too. Then again, my local isn’t 3,550 miles away. The difference, of course, is that Trump seems to spend about as much time on the golf course as I do at the bar, the only issue being I’m not the President of the United States (although I’m probably equally qualified). As of this writing, he has played golf 68 out of his 271 days since returning to office, or roughly one in every four days of his second term.
Anyways, Trump’s loathing for wind turbines has only escalated since his reassumption of the Oval Office. In January of this year the Trump administration began a broad campaign against the wind power industry. This attack includes the withdrawal of $679 million in federal funding for 12 projects around the country intended to support the development of offshore wind power, a move that could stall progress in one of the fastest-growing renewable energy sectors.
Trump’s criticism of wind turbines has always been loud, sweeping, and without fail, wrong. “Windmills — we’re just not going to allow them,” he declared. “They’re ugly. They don’t work. They kill your birds. They’re bad for the environment.” I think it would be rude not to correct him.
At a 2019 dinner party in Washington, Trump claimed that the noises of his unbeloved windmills cause cancer. This statement is not only false but spectacularly so. The American Cancer Society has stated unequivocally that it is “unaware of any credible evidence linking the noise from windmills to cancer.” I can only hope the summer intern drafting that announcement got as good a chuckle out of it as I did.
Either way, some researchers have explored whether turbine noise might contribute to headaches, nausea, or sleeplessness, but the evidence remains weak and inconsistent. Meanwhile, the pollution from coal plants — a power source Trump enthusiastically supports — is scientifically linked to heart disease, respiratory illness, and ironically, cancer. Even Trump’s own Environmental Protection Agency once estimated that relaxing coal-plant regulations could lead to 1,400 additional premature deaths per year.
In a similarly farcical vein, Trump once warned, “If you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations, your house just went down 75 percent in value.” In reality, large-scale studies have found no such effect. A 2013 analysis of more than 50,000 home sales across nine US. states found no significant correlation between wind farms and declining property values. Even Trump’s golf resort in Scotland, located near the turbines he despises, has not exactly suffered financially.
Unfortunately, if I were to continue down the path of fact-checking a pathological liar, my word document might crash. And frankly, I’ve decided that the €2.99 I already pay for additional storage is enough of a sacrifice, so I’ll save the fun for another time. However, I feel it necessary to say that Trump’s relentless crusade against “windmills” might make for entertaining soundbites, but it’s dangerously out of sync with both science and reality. In a world where climate change is accelerating and clean energy innovation is vital, tilting at windmills isn’t just foolish, it’s self-destructive.