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Trump’s dislike for wind energy seems to go back a decade.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly voiced his frustration with some sources of renewable energy infrastructure, especially windmills.
In November 2025, Trump’s administration halted five offshore wind projects on the East Coast, citing national security reasons.
The halt was later struck down in court, allowing the construction to continue.
But Donald Trump’s aversion to wind energy seems to be just as strong as it’s ever been.
“Any country with windmills is a loser”
During an Oval Office briefing, President Donald Trump took aim at European energy policy. According to The Daily Beast, he voiced deep frustration with how European nations handle both border control and power generation, zeroing in on renewable infrastructure.
He argued that relying on wind turbines makes a country financially foolish. “Any country with windmills is a loser, okay?” Trump said during the briefing. He added, “If they have windmills, they’re a loser. Because you lose money with windmills.”
The comment raised immediate questions because of the sheer scale of wind energy back home. According to data from the U.S. Geological Survey, America operates more than 77,000 wind turbines across 1,800 different onshore and offshore projects.
Climate policy expert Steven Cohen noted that wind generated 464.4 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2025. That accounted for roughly 10.5 percent of the nation’s entire electrical supply, meaning the statement applied directly to his own country.
Windmills and wind turbines
It may sound like Trump is slamming windmills in particular, but here is the difference between the two:
Windmills are mechanical structures designed to grind grain (milling) or pump water using wind energy.
Wind turbines are modern machines designed to convert kinetic wind energy into electrical current for the power grid.
And as we do not think Trump is slamming 19th-century windmills used in rural areas, we believe that what Trump is actually slamming is wind energy in general.
A dislike that goes back years.
A longstanding feud
The bitter feud started when Scottish officials approved an offshore wind farm within view of his golf resort in Aberdeenshire.
Since entering the political scene, he has frequently made sweeping claims about turbines. He has argued that they cause cancer, harm local wildlife, and drag down property values. Recently, he even claimed that a windless day caused a television blackout during a presidential debate.
Fact-checkers quickly pushed back on that story. CNN reporter Daniel Dale pointed out that over 51 million people watched the debate, noting that power grids rely on mixed energy sources and battery storage so houses remain powered when the air is still.
The White House later defended the president’s position in a statement to The Daily Beast, calling wind energy the “scam of the century” and claiming taxpayers pay “billions more for the least reliable form of energy.”
