From Transport Evolved.
Like Don Quixote tilting at windmills, the U.S. President just riffed on how much he hates wind turbines and wind power. He made some truly outlandish claims. We’re here to fact-check the lot.
Over the weekend, while visiting his golf course in Scotland (and avoiding the heat back home over his alleged connections to Jeffery Epstein), President Trump hosted the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at Turnberry , ostensibly to negotiate a new trade deal with the European Union over import and export tariffs.
Prior to the meeting, the pair held a joint press conference, in which von der Leyen mainly remained quiet, and President Trump asked questions from the assembled media. But what got our – and other folks – attention the most was the plethora of misinformation spread on a wide range of different topics. Since we work in the world of clean cars and green energy, we just had to debunk his claims on both the auto industry and wind turbines. Because based on what he claimed, President Trump is incredibly misinformed.
Find the FULL Shownotes (and links to source material) at https://www.transportevolved.com/2025/07/28/donald-trump-or-donald-quixote-its-time-to-bust-the-wind-turbine-fud-from-the-u-s-president/
(and watch non-political videos:
Nikki builds a cool Home Assistant thing: https://youtu.be/6gwgyRowVqA
Kate breaks a Comma – https://youtu.be/mG4wI6oZxJI )
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⏱️ Chapter Breakdown:
00:00 – Introduction
03:51 – Background
07:19 – President Trump claims automakers can’t sell in Europe
07:54 – Our debunking.
11:36 – To the wind turbines – and a note about our chapter markings.
12:09 – President trump claims wind turbines are spoiling the landscape and causing distress.
12:36 – Our response to those claims
14:28 – A note on the "Nocebo" effect
15:22 – President Trump claims wind turbines are only made in China.
15:25 – Fact checking with U.S. figures.
17:22 – False claims made about recycling of wind turbines.
17:45 – The reality of end-of-life for wind turbines.
19:01 – The President claims wind is "a con job".
19:15 – Some polite facts. There’s only one con here – fossil fuels
22:37- President Trump claims they kill birds…
23:26 – We list the largest killers of birds (using Federal data)
26:23- Debunking the "Dead beached whales" claims.
29:54 – Debunking claims that ‘environmentalists’ aren’t.
32:07 – Closing thoughts
33:55 – Thanks, and Goodbye!
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Links:
U.S. Department of Energy’s details on domestic wind turbine manufacturing. – https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/wind-manufacturing-and-supply-chain
NREL’s wind manufacturing and supply chain database. – https://www.nrel.gov/wind/materials-database
U.S. Wind Turbine Database – https://energy.usgs.gov/uswtdb/
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – Threats to birds by min/max numbers. – https://www.fws.gov/library/collections/threats-birds
Noise from Wind Turbines (WindExchange – DOE) – https://windexchange.energy.gov/projects/sound
IMF: fossil fuel subsidies in 2022/23 – https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2023/08/22/IMF-Fossil-Fuel-Subsidies-Data-2023-Update-537281
Lazard’s 2024 Levelized Cost of Energy Report – https://www.lazard.com/media/xemfey0k/lazards-lcoeplus-june-2024-_vf.pdf
NOAA investigations into whale mortality – https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-life-distress/2016-2025-humpback-whale-unusual-mortality-event-along-atlantic-coast?utm_source=chatgpt.com
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