Wind Power Is A Bad Option, Because What If The Earth Runs Out Of Wind, Says Trump

Once again displaying his lack of understanding of renewable energy sources, President Donald Trump joked on Wednesday for a second time that people would have to turn off their televisions when the wind stops blowing if the U.S. moves toward using “windmills” for energy generation.

According to Newsweek, Trump was speaking at a tank factory in Lima, Ohio, when he made the joke, telling the audience of workers that "Hillary [Clinton] wanted to put windmills all over the place."

The president went on to describe a fictional conversation as though he were at home watching TV, relying on wind for power:

“Let's put up some windmills. When the wind doesn't blow, just turn off the television darling, please. There's no wind, please turn off the television quickly."

Newsweek noted that Trump appeared to confuse wind turbines with windmills throughout his comments on the issue. He also claimed that putting up “windmills” would decrease property values, though the president offered no data to back up the assertion.

"Put the windmills up, and watch the value of your house if you’re in sight of a windmill—watch the value of your house go down by 65 percent,” Trump suggested. "Wonderful to have windmills. And solar’s wonderful too, but it’s not strong enough, and it’s very very expensive.”

Trumped debuted his joke about the television earlier this month as he criticized the Democrats’ Green New Deal, which lays out an aggressive response to climate change, during his lengthy speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

“I think it's something [Democrats] should really promote...no planes, no energy. When the wind stops blowing, that's the end of your electric. 'Darling is the wind blowing today? I'd like to watch television.'"

The president’s take on renewable energy assumes that solar and wind power are not viable because the wind can die down and clouds can hide the sun — a position he uses to boost the merits of continued reliance on fossil fuels.

While speaking to the tank factory workers, Trump reportedly also boasted that the U.S. produces more crude oil and natural gas than any other country.

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