America's National Embarrassment
Donald Trump goes to Scotland, spreading his mess on the global stage
He could have simply gone to Scotland, played golf at his Turnberry course (on taxpayer money) and tamped down an escalating trade war that he triggered with Europe. But Donald Trump is proving once again that he will never miss the chance to mouth off and do the wrong thing, ensuring that America’s global reputation continues to be shattered.
During an on-camera conversation Sunday with Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Union’s executive branch, he pontificated about windmills. “And the other thing I say to Europe: We will will not allow a windmill to be built in the United States, they’re killing us,” Trump said. “They’re killing the beauty of our scenery, our valleys, our beautiful plains—I’m not talking about airplanes, I’m talking about beautiful plains.”
In fact, even as Trump asserted that “windmills will not come—it’s not going to happen in the United States,” the U.S. Geological Survey has noted there are at least 70,800 turbines throughout the country. Even as he railed against windmills, the U.S. Energy Information Administration has reported that wind power makes up more than 10 percent of total electricity, making it the country’s largest source of renewable energy.
Of course, he had more to say on the topic, insisting that windmills are “driving [whales] loco, it’s driving them crazy.” In fact, the national fisheries agency within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has addressed such wild speculation. “At this point, there is no scientific evidence that noise resulting from offshore wind site characterization surveys could potentially cause whale deaths,” the agency stated. “There are no known links between large whale deaths and ongoing offshore wind activities.”
Trump’s hostility to windmills and renewable energy—which provides hundreds of thousands of jobs and seeks to address the climate change that Trump denies—is not new. It dates back more than a decade in his ongoing legal fight against offshore wind turbines that are visible from his Aberdeenshire golf course in Scotland. In a previous meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump ranted, “They should get rid of the windmills and bring back the oil.”
Later yesterday, Trump and von der Leyen announced they had reached a preliminary trade deal setting a 15 percent tariff rate on most European goods. This is lower than Trump’s threatened rate of 30 percent if a deal wasn’t worked out before August 1, but well above the 2.5 percent rate that existed before Trump launched his tariff war.
The announcement of the broad brush deal and the avoidance of an all-out trade war may succeed in at least temporarily calming the markets. But it surely won’t quiet the continuing outrage over the Epstein files coverup and Trump’s long-time involvement with the child rapist and sex trafficker.
Upon his arrival in Scotland, reporters asked about the ongoing furor. "You make it a very big thing over something that's not a big thing," Trump said. "Don't talk about Trump. What you should be talking about is the fact that we have the greatest six months in the history of a presidency."
Gosh, for some reason he suddenly doesn’t want the media to “talk about Trump,” but instead pretend that his imaginary “greatest six months in the history of the presidency” is the real story. But he cannot hide his obvious panic, exemplified by his efforts to distract with ludicrous new threats to prosecute Beyoncé, Oprah, Al Sharpton and Kamala Harris for imagined payments for endorsing the former vice president during the campaign.
Don’t assume that it’s just Americans who are witnessing this embarrassing wreck of a man growing louder and more desperate in his denials. His Sunday morning attacks on his former presidential opponent and a beloved entertainer like Beyoncé were dished out from Scotland on the same day he expected to be taken seriously in trade talks with the European Union.
Trump may imagine his escalating threats will shift people’s attention, but it’s not working. Count me among those lingering over the blistering new South Park episode focused on Trump, released just after co-creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker completed a $1.5 billion deal with Paramount+ Global that includes 50 new episodes of their long-running animated series.
At one point in the furious new episode, a naked Trump climbs into bed with Satan, who then says he heard Trump is on the Epstein list. “The Epstein list? Are we still talking about that?” Trump responds.
“Well, are you on the list or not? It’s weird that whenever it comes up, you just tell everyone to relax,” Satan says.
Trump replies, “I’m not telling everyone to relax! Relax, guy!”
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Such a noxious, imbecilic embarrassment.
“Unlimited power in the hands of limited people always leads to cruelty.” - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
So many stupid, embarrassing remarks that now it's being reported that Charles is worried that he's going to babble out some political crap during the state visit. World leaders know that we elected someone who can't be trusted to act like an adult for five minutes.
In happier news, we now have footage of this babyman cheating at golf.