Donald Trump turned a press availability in Scotland that was supposed to be focused on a trade deal with the European Union into a long list of his personal grudges against windmills, the Jeffrey Epstein case, Democrats, and Gaza.
Appearing alongside E.U. President Ursula von der Leyen, Trump said the U.S. and E.U. have a “good chance” of reaching a trade deal. But he also addressed a wide range of topics, ranting so much that one reporter asked “why” he was in a “bad mood.”
“Can I ask why you’re in a bad mood? Was it a bad morning of golf?” the reporter asked.
“No,” Trump said. “The golf was beautiful.”
But while playing his round of golf at his Turnberry course (during which it appears he may have cheated), Trump caught sight of windmills he has long hated, having fought and lost a battle against their installation in the waters off his Scotland course. That could explain why he went on an extended anti-windmill rant on Sunday.
“Today, I’m playing the best course I think in the world, Turnberry,” he said. “Even though I own it, it’s probably the best course in the world. And I look over the horizon and I see nine windmills at the end of the 18th [hole]. I say, isn’t that a shame?”
Trump also resurfaced one of his false claims: that windmills cause whales to go crazy and die.
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“You have a certain place in the Massachusetts area that over the last 20 years had one or two whales wash ashore,” Trump said. “And over the last short period of time they had 18. OK? Because it’s driving them loco. No, windmills will not happen in the United States.”
“The other thing I say to Europe: We will not allow a windmill to be built in the United States. They are killing us,” he said.
In April 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy dispelled that misinformation. “As of now, there is no evidence to support speculation that noise resulting from wind development-related site characterization surveys could potentially cause mortality of whales, and no specific links between recent large whale mortalities and currently ongoing surveys,” the agency wrote.
Trump, who launched his political career on the unfounded conspiracy theory that former president Barack Obama was not born in the U.S., also accused the Democrats of promoting “conspiracy theories and nonsense.”
“One year ago, our country was dead… because of an incompetent president and incompetent Democrats,” he said, “All they know how to do is talk and think about conspiracy theories and nonsense. If they’d waste their time talking about America being great again, it would be so much nicer, so much easier — be very successful.”
Trump at first tried to avoid the topic of Gaza. When asked, “What do the images of starving kids in Gaza make you feel?” he responded, “Well, it’s terrible. People are stealing the food. I think Iran is acting up. Venezuela is acting up in a different way. They continue to send people that we rebuff to our border.”
Asked again about food for Gaza and whether Israel should allow more food across the border, Trump whined that the U.S. has not been thanked for sending aid.
“You really want to at least have somebody say ‘Thank you!’” Trump said. “We gave $60 million two weeks ago for food to Gaza. And nobody acknowledged it. Nobody talks about it. And it makes you feel a little bad when you do that… Nobody gave but us, and nobody said, ‘Gee, thank you very much.’ It’d be nice to at least have a thank you.”
Israel has recently begun allowing food parcels to be air dropped into Gaza, but a recent drop injured at least 11 Palestinians when those aid pallets fell on top of tents where displaced people are living. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned last week that “conditions on the ground in Gaza are already catastrophic and deteriorating fast — with death, displacement and destruction continuing to be reported as a result of ongoing Israeli military operations. The starvation crisis is deepening across the Strip. Hunger and malnutrition increase the risk of illnesses that weaken the immune system, especially among women, children, older people, and those with disabilities or chronic diseases. The consequences can turn deadly fast.”
But Trump appeared more worried about who hasn’t thanked him for millions in food aid than starving Gazans.
Trump claimed the U.S. sent $60 million in food aid a couple weeks ago, although the details are not clear. According to The Guardian, the U.S. sent a $30 million grant to the controversial U.S.- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which has been associated with food distribution sites where the Israeli military has shot and killed hundreds of people seeking aid.
“It was pushed through over the technical and ethical objections of career staff,” a source told the publication. Sources told The Guardian that GHF may be receiving $30 million per month from the U.S. to fund its operations in Gaza.
When asked about the topic he is in Europe to address — tariffs — he said he would not budge on the proposed rate of 15 percent.
“Can you do better than a 15% tariff rate for the EU?” a reporter asked.
“Better meaning lower? No,” the president responded.
From Rolling Stone US
