From Anti-Woke to Bizarre: To Mock a Killing Bird

 "Like a tunnel that you follow

To a tunnel of its own

Down a hollow to a cavern

Where the sun has never shown."

--The Windmills of Your Mind

Alan and Marilyn Bergman

"They kill all the birds. You want to see a bird graveyard? Go to a windmill someday. You'll see more birds than you've ever seen in your life."

--Trump, 2019, Florida

"If you love birds, you'd never walk under a windmill, because its a very sad, sad sight. It's like a cemetery."

--Trump 2019

"A windmill will kill many bald eagles. It's true...why is it OK for these windmills to destroy the bird population?"

--Trump 2019

-M. McCarthy

"There're made in China and they kill birds and they're horrible."

--Trump 2020

"Acting director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Matthew Giacona, issued a letter Friday to Orsted [the windmill project] ordering it to 'halt all ongoing activities.' In particular, BOEM is seeking to address concerns related to the protection of national security interests of the United States," Giacona wrote without specifying any issues or detailing the concerns."

--The Boston Globe

"With the significant investments made in this project already and its obvious benefit to our economy and climate, the Trump Administration's attempt to halt it can only be characterized as bizarre."

--R.I. attorney general Peter Neronha

Giacona: Security Risk

Mad Dog has flown over the North Sea many times and he has always, with each new viewing, been impressed by the sea of windmills in those waters, and also he has seen the same along the coasts of northern Scotland. 

Europe gets 20% of its energy from wind. Denmark alone gets 60% of its energy from wind. China gets 11%.

In the dark north, wind is better than sun.

In California, sun is better--Kern County has a sea of solar panels.

In Texas and on the Great Plains both sources are plentiful and booming.

But Donald Trump hates windmills.

His stated reason for hating windmills is his love for birds.

But, like so much of what he says, we cannot take him literally, which is to say, we cannot believe a word he says.

Birds are killed by windows, predators (cats and predatory birds) and hunters in about that order. Windmills kill a small number of birds.

And what possible security risk could windmills pose? They do not melt down and cause Three Mile Island type risks. They do not explode. But perhaps they vibrate and scare whales. Or maybe submarines crash into them. Or maybe they threaten Shell Oil. 

"Bald Eagles must be protected to the fullest extent of the law from dangerous wind turbines," President Trump's Secretary of the Interior tells us. But the good Secretary does not mention that Mr. Trump's affection for bald eagles does not seem last much longer than his affection for his wives: 

 "President Trump called for gutting the very law that applies,  the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, calling it a burden to oil and gas producers."

--The New York Times

Of course, like most of Trump's grand insights and deep affections, this one derives from a desire for revenge. 

"When Trump bought the Menie estate, about eight miles north of Aberdeen, in 2006, he promised to create the 'world's greatest' golf course. But he soon became infuriated at plans to construct an offshore wind farm nearby, arguing that the windmills--as he prefers to call the structures would ruin the view...They generate enough electricity to supply up to 80,000 homes...Trump battled the plans through the Scottish courts then appealed to the UK's Supreme Court--but he was unable to stop the "monsters" from going ahead."

--The New York Times

The Orsted windmills, 15 miles south of Rhode Island (a very blue state) are "key to Rhode Islands economic development, energy security and long-term affordability for our residents," Rhode Island governor Daniel McKee said. 

So, this is Trump's chance to stick it to a blue state, to stick it to windmills and to suck up to  fossil fuel interests. It's a trifecta for Trump.

Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a withering critic of Trump in the US Senate said,

"As payback to Trump's fossil fuel backers, the Trump administration is seeking to weaponize federal bureaucracy to try and kill clean energy projects that will save Americans money and reduce the carbon pollution that is driving the climate crisis."

And, of course, we all know this is true. 

Trump knows we all understand his tariffs on Canada have nothing to do with Fentanyl.

Trump knows we all understand his strangulation of hard-earned medical research funds to Harvard has nothing to do with antisemitism at that university with its Jewish president. (More likely it has something to do with Harvard rejecting his son's application.)

It's all about revenge and a new kind of Woke-ism--we are awakened to the idea that Mr. Trump has no scruples, and no law matters. Don't tell him about the law, tell him about how long the other side can last in court, and how he can get his pound of flesh. (And that phrase, in Mr. Trump's case, should be used advisedly.)

For Trump, it's all about pay back.