During a December 2019 speech for a Turning Point USA conference in Flordia, President Trump talked about the Green New Deal, and made a number of disjointed declarations about wind turbines and wind energy. In Florida he remarked,
“… I never understood wind. You know, I know windmills very much. I’ve studied it better than anybody I know. It’s very expensive. They’re made in China and Germany mostly, very few made here, almost none. But they’re manufactured — tremendous, if you’re into this, tremendous fumes, gases are spewing into the atmosphere. You know we have a world, right? So the world is tiny compared to the universe. So tremendous, tremendous amount of fumes and everything — you talk about the ‘carbon footprint’ — fumes are spewing into the air, right? Spewing. Whether it’s in China, Germany, it’s going into the air. It’s our air, their air, everything, right? So they make these things, and then they put them up, and if you own a house within vision of some of these monsters, your house is worth 50 percent of the price.” In previous remarks this year about wind turbines he said they reduce the price of nearby properties by 65% and also claimed that wind turbines cause cancer.
If my neighbor made a similar speech at the local bar after one too many, I wouldn’t pay much attention. But Trump is the president of the United States, and his continual distortion of reality has purpose and impact worldwide.
Victor Klemperer, who kept a diary while living under the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, and the German Democratic Republic, noticed that one way totalitarianism is expressed is hostility to “verifiable reality. ” Lies are frequently presented as undeniable facts. Trump’s comments on wind turbines are one of many examples of his distaste for facts. And the false or misleading claims he makes have been accelerating each year. At this point, journalists have documented more than 15,000 false or misleading statements by Trump during his presidency.
Why is this important? Because as historian Timothy Snyder points out, “If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis upon which to do so.” This is the reason Trump has branded America’s free press as the “lying press” (Lügenpresse). There must be no truth except the one he declares.
Trump’s windmill speech is also an example of another sign of budding totalitarianism. Since he’s become president, Donald Trump has declared himself an expert on everything from windmills to nuclear arms to ISIS. He’s made statements such as:
"I know more about renewables than any human being on Earth..." (April 2016.)
"Nobody in the history of this country has ever known so much about infrastructure as Donald Trump." (July 2016.)
“I know the details of taxes better than anybody. Better than the greatest C.P.A.” (December 2017)
"I know more about drones than anybody. I know about every form of safety that you can have." (January 2019.)
To believe that Trump is a leading expert on renewable energy, infrastructure, taxes, drones, nuclear arms, ISIS, and much more, one must abandon the world of reason and devote oneself to an almost religious faith in Trump. Victor Klemperer, who survived the Nazi reign in Germany, wrote that one of his university students urged him to “abandon yourself to your feelings, and focus on the Fuhrer’s greatness, rather than on the discomfort you’re feeling...”
To continue to support Trump, one must embrace the lies, and simply believe. Accept that Trump knows more “than any human being on Earth.” Afterall, as he’s told us, he is “the chosen one.”
*First published as a column by Quest Lakes in the RJG and MVN on Dec. 27,2019
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