Rerun

recurring claim

The recurring claims that wind power is bad, doesn't work, and "doesn't work at night"

You're probably here because of the Jan 2026 rerun. This is the 14th time since 2016 (archive start) this story has run. The previous rerun was Dec 2025.

About this story

Wind power keeps getting attacked with a mix of claims that aren't equally true. Wind output does vary, which is real and is handled by mixing power sources on the grid and by storage. Turbines do kill some birds, but far fewer than some speakers claimed. Other claims had no support in the sources: that turbine noise causes cancer, that offshore wind work was killing whales, and that wind failures caused the 2021 Texas blackouts. Donald Trump has been the most frequent and most covered source since before 2016. Others, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in 2021 and Energy Secretary Chris Wright in 2025, have made versions of these claims during particular events.

Sources: 1, 2

20162026

Jan 2026 Davos: windmills are "losers"

On Jan 21, 2026, in his Davos speech, Trump said "there are windmills all over Europe… and they are losers." He said the more windmills a country has, "the more money that country loses." He also said he hadn't "been able to find any wind farms in China," and that China's wind farms "don't spin, they don't do anything" (TNR; E&E News).

The next day, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said China's installed wind capacity had ranked first in the world for 15 years in a row (Reuters). E&E News reported that China had 561 GW installed by the end of 2024, according to the Global Wind Energy Council, about 10% of its electricity. CNBC said Vestas CEO Henrik Andersen disputed "Trump's claim that wind energy doesn't work." Reuters noted that Trump has called wind turbines ugly, expensive and inefficient. The framing keeps coming back.

  • x.com social post
    There are windmills all over Europe. There are windmills all over the place. And they are losers.
  • Yahoo News article
    China's installed capacity of wind power has ranked first in the world for 15 consecutive years
  • eenews.net article
    it's by far the world's biggest producer of electricity from wind
  • c-span.org video Watch
    There are windmills all over Europe. There are windmills all over the place. And they are losers.

Sources: Yahoo News reliable · eenews.net needs a second source · cnbc.com reliable · The New Republic needs a second source

Correction, 2026-10-23: Removed quotation marks from "ugly, expensive and inefficient", which Reuters paraphrased rather than quoted, and separated the archive's own observation from what Reuters reported.

Dec 2025 – Jan 2026 Interior pauses leases for five offshore wind projects; Burgum calls them "expensive, unreliable"

On Dec 22, 2025, the Interior Department said it was pausing, "effective immediately," the leases for all large-scale offshore wind projects under construction. It named five projects and cited classified Department of War reports plus unclassified findings that turbines cause radar "clutter." Burgum announced the pause on X, calling the projects "expensive, unreliable, heavily subsidized." He added that one natural gas pipeline supplies as much energy as all five combined. Reuters reported in the same story that President Trump has said he finds wind turbines ugly, costly and inefficient. It also reported that he campaigned on a promise to end the offshore wind industry, saying "windmills" are too expensive and hurt whales and birds.

  • x.com social post
    PAUSING leases for 5 expensive, unreliable, heavily subsidized offshore wind farms!
  • doi.gov statement
    pausing—effective immediately—the leases for all large-scale offshore wind projects under construction in the United States
  • canarymedia.com article
    the height of arbitrary and capricious

Sources: cbsnews.com reliable · Al Jazeera reliable · thedailyrecord.com needs a second source · canarymedia.com needs a second source

Sep 2025 UN speech: "They're a joke, they don't work"

In his Sept. 23, 2025 speech to the UN General Assembly, Trump said of wind turbines, "They don't work," "The wind doesn't blow," and called windmills "so pathetic and so bad." The AP (via PBS) wrote that he called wind power a "joke" and "pathetic," "falsely claiming they don't work, are too expensive and too weak." ABC News fact-checked the "don't work" claim against IEA and IRENA data. FactCheck.org called the "wind doesn't blow" line misleading. It said wind power "does come with extra variability," but people don't lose power when the wind stops, because wind is one of many sources feeding the grid. That is the split: intermittency is real and managed; "doesn't work" is not supported.

  • rev.com statement
    By the way, they're a joke. They don't work. They're too expensive. They're not strong enough to fire up the plants that you need to make your country great. The wind doesn't blow.
  • Fox News broadcast
  • Axios article
    Windmills, however, he mentioned at least three times.
  • youtube.com video
    so pathetic and so bad

Sources: factcheck.org reliable · Public Broadcasting Service reliable · ABC News reliable · insideclimatenews.org reliable

Aug 2025 "Scam of the century" and the Revolution Wind stop-work order

On Aug. 20, 2025, Trump posted on Truth Social that states relying on "WINDMILLS and SOLAR" were seeing "RECORD BREAKING INCREASES IN ELECTRICITY AND ENERGY COSTS." He called renewables "THE SCAM OF THE CENTURY!" (Heatmap) and said he "will not approve" wind or solar projects (Fortune). Heatmap's analysis of state data found no clear link between how much renewable power a state uses and its electricity prices. Fortune reported that Trump has repeatedly called windmills a scam and has "falsely said the noise can cause cancer." On Aug. 22, BOEM ordered work stopped on Ørsted's Revolution Wind project. gCaptain reported the project was 80% complete, with 45 of 65 planned turbines in place.

  • truthsocial.com social post
    Any State that has built and relied on WINDMILLS and SOLAR for power are seeing RECORD BREAKING INCREASES IN ELECTRICITY AND ENERGY COSTS
  • gcaptain.com article
    The directive, issued on August 22, 2025, comes as the project has reached 80% completion with all foundations installed and 45 of 65 planned wind turbines already in place.

Sources: heatmap.news needs a second source · fortune.com reliable · gcaptain.com needs a second source · Washington Examiner needs a second source

Correction, 2026-10-23: Corrected the attribution of the Revolution Wind completion figures to gCaptain, which reported them, rather than Ørsted. Credited the "will not approve" quote to Fortune only, since Heatmap does not contain it.

Jul 2025 – Aug 2025 "Ugliest windmills" in Scotland (Trump's July 2025 visit)

During his July 2025 visit to Scotland, Trump repeatedly said wind power is costly, ugly and deadly to birds. STV quoted him on July 28 saying "Wind is a disaster" and "Wind is the most expensive form of energy." Euronews reported he called wind a "con job" that "doesn't work," and CBS quoted him saying of windmills, "They don't do anything." The remarks tied back to his long fight against the wind farm near his Aberdeenshire course: he sued in 2013 and lost (CBS), and the UK Supreme Court dismissed his challenge in December 2015 (Euronews). Euronews checked two of his claims against outside data. It cited the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) as finding onshore wind the cheapest source of new power, and putting average turbine lifespan at about 20–25 years, not the eight he claimed.

  • news.stv.tv article
    Donald Trump has said Scotland has "the ugliest windmills I've ever seen" when asked his opinion about wind power.
  • euronews.com article
    calling it a "con job" that "doesn't work"
  • Snopes article
    Trump went to Scotland and ranted about windmills, so Scotland decided to build 300 more off the shore of Trump's new golf course

Sources: news.stv.tv needs a second source · cbsnews.com reliable · euronews.com reliable · Snopes reliable

Correction, 2026-10-23: Removed the turbine count and "unanimously", which the sources do not support for this wind farm, and replaced the Forbes attribution with Euronews, which reports the December 2015 Supreme Court dismissal.

Apr 2025 – Jun 2025 Spain–Portugal blackout blamed on renewables

On April 28, 2025, as Spain and Portugal were still without power, Wright told CNBC: "when you hitch your wagon to the weather, it's just a risky endeavor." Scientific American called this "a thinly veiled swipe at wind and solar," which were supplying almost three-quarters of Spain's grid at the time. It also noted that REE's chief executive said no "definitive conclusions" had been reached. In June 2025, Spain's government released its investigation report, which ruled out renewables as the cause and placed the blame on REE and conventional power plants (PV Tech). NPR later rebutted a claim by commentator Michael Shellenberger that "too little 'inertia' due to excess solar resulted in system collapse," saying there is no indication that a lack of inertia caused the outage.

  • Scientific American article
    when you hitch your wagon to the weather, it's just a risky endeavor
  • NPR article
    it's clear that too little 'inertia' due to excess solar resulted in system collapse.

Sources: Scientific American reliable · NPR reliable · pv-tech.org needs a second source · cnbc.com reliable

Correction, 2026-10-23: Corrected the date of Spain's investigation report from June 17 to June 2025, since the source does not give June 17, and extended the end date to cover it. Removed an unconfirmed E&E News attribution and an editorial remark about the "doesn't work at night" claim. Identified the NPR quote as Michael Shellenberger's claim, which NPR rebutted.

Jan 2025 Day-one order pausing wind leasing

On Jan. 20, 2025, the White House issued a memorandum that did three things: it withdrew all Outer Continental Shelf areas from offshore wind leasing, paused new or renewed federal approvals for onshore and offshore wind projects, and ordered a federal review of wind leasing and permitting. The review it ordered must consider "the economic costs associated with the intermittent generation of electricity and the effect of subsidies on the viability of the wind industry." That repeats the "wind is unreliable / doesn't work" framing. FactCheck.org reported that Trump told a rally after his inauguration that day: "We're not going to do the wind thing." FactCheck.org says it has fact-checked his false and misleading wind claims for nearly a decade. That includes claims that wind "doesn't work," which it says grids handle by managing variability. FactCheck.org also said the same-day energy emergency order's language about an "intermittent energy supply" mirrors some of Trump's misleading criticisms of wind's reliability.

  • whitehouse.gov statement
    the economic costs associated with the intermittent generation of electricity
  • factcheck.org article
    Big, ugly windmills, they ruin your neighborhood.
  • utilitydive.com article
    pauses permitting, approvals and loans for all onshore and offshore wind projects

Sources: utilitydive.com needs a second source · wbur.org needs a second source · factcheck.org reliable · whitehouse.gov reliable

Sep 2023 Trump says windmills are "driving the whales… a little batty" (Sept 2023)

At a campaign rally in Summerville, S.C., on Sept. 25, 2023, Trump said "windmills" were causing whales "to die in numbers never seen before" and were "driving the whales… a little batty." HuffPost described the remark as the latest in a list of his complaints about wind turbines, which it said included the false claims that they cause cancer and kill "all the birds." HuffPost also quoted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). NOAA said there was no scientific evidence that noise from offshore wind surveys could kill whales. BOEM said it had found no evidence and pointed to vessel strikes and fishing-gear entanglement as the ongoing threats. HuffPost noted that Fox News and Republican lawmakers had earlier in 2023 suggested that East Coast whale deaths were linked to offshore wind development.

  • Yahoo News article
    Mr Trump then turned the focus on "windmills" and said they are "causing whales to die in numbers never seen before".
  • HuffPost article
    Donald Trump's on the warpath against his mortal enemy again, and it made a big splash on social media.
  • Washington Examiner article
    claiming instead that new "windmills"—or presumably offshore wind turbines in the area—are the biggest contributor to the uptick in new East Coast whale deaths.
  • youtube.com video

Sources: HuffPost needs a second source · Yahoo News reliable · Yahoo News reliable · The Independent reliable · Washington Examiner needs a second source

Jan 2023 – Mar 2023 East Coast whale deaths blamed on offshore wind

In January 2023, Fox News host Jesse Watters posted "Wind Surveying Is KILLING our Whales" on Facebook (Jan. 12). The next day Tucker Carlson blamed wind farms for "killing a huge number of whales" and called offshore wind "the DDT of our times." Laura Ingraham repeated the claim in March (FactCheck.org). On Jan. 30, 12 New Jersey Shore mayors asked for a moratorium on offshore wind activities. Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) asked for one too (PolitiFact). NOAA officials told reporters no whale deaths had been attributed to offshore wind (CNN). FactCheck.org and PolitiFact found no evidence of a link. Both noted that a humpback "unusual mortality event" has been running since 2016, and that ship strikes and fishing-gear entanglement are leading known causes. Media Matters found that 241 of 288 Facebook posts about wind energy from Jan. 1 to Mar. 1, 2023 (84%) mentioned whales.

Sources: factcheck.org reliable · CNN reliable · PolitiFact reliable · Media Matters for America needs a second source

Correction, 2026-10-23: Re-pointed the "DDT of our times" quote from a Fox News video page that does not contain it to the FactCheck.org article that quotes it. Removed CNN as a source for Laura Ingraham's March remarks, since CNN's January article could not cover them.

Feb 2021 Texas winter storm, frozen turbines blamed for the blackouts

After about half of Texas's 24,000 MW of installed wind capacity froze, several officials and commentators said in nationally covered statements that wind power had failed and caused the blackouts. They included Gov. Greg Abbott on Hannity (Feb. 16), Rep. Dan Crenshaw, Commissioner Sid Miller and Tucker Carlson. Grid operator ERCOT said on Feb. 16 that about 16,000 MW of renewable generation was offline, compared with about 29,000–30,000 MW of thermal generation (gas, coal and nuclear). PolitiFact reported that the turbines that kept running produced more than forecast. The episode had mixed truth values: wind did underperform, and Crenshaw framed this as intermittency ("isn't there when you need it"). Fact-checkers rated the broader claims that wind caused or "thrust" Texas into the blackouts as False (Abbott) or Pants on Fire (Carlson).

  • PolitiFact article
    Our wind and our solar got shut down and … that thrust Texas into this situation where it was lacking power at a statewide basis
  • PolitiFact article
    Then it got cold, and the windmills broke, because that's what happens in the Green New Deal.
  • texastribune.org article
    This is what happens when you force the grid to rely in part on wind as a power source

Sources: PolitiFact reliable · NPR reliable · texastribune.org reliable · Public Broadcasting Service reliable

Oct 2020 Final 2020 debate, wind "kills all the birds"

In the final 2020 presidential debate, Trump told Biden: "I know more about wind than you do. It's extremely expensive. Kills all the birds. It's very intermittent." In the same exchange, Biden said, "He thinks wind causes cancer, windmills." That refers to an earlier claim by Trump that CBS News reported the American Cancer Society said it had no credible evidence for. Fact-checkers said turbines do kill some birds but far fewer than cats or glass windows. CBS reported that the power grid is able to handle the variability of any power source, citing the Department of Energy. NBC and CBS both described the debate remarks as a repeat of Trump's earlier criticism of wind power.

  • rev.com broadcast
    I know more about wind than you do. It's extremely expensive. Kills all the birds. It's very intermittent.
  • NBC News article
    Wind turbines do kill birds, though cats and cell towers kill significantly more winged creatures.
  • cbsnews.com article
    The American Cancer Society is unaware of any credible evidence linking the noise from windmills to cancer

Sources: rev.com needs a second source · NBC News reliable · cbsnews.com reliable · factcheck.org reliable

Correction, 2026-10-23: Corrected the Department of Energy sentence: the quoted wording was CBS's own, not a Department of Energy quote, so it is now given as CBS's report.

Dec 2019 I never understood wind

In the December 21, 2019 speech, while criticizing the Green New Deal, Trump called wind turbines expensive and said making them sends "tremendous fumes" into the air. He also said they lower nearby home values, are noisy, kill birds, "will kill many bald eagles," and need large government subsidies (govinfo transcript). The Hill's fact-check found turbines kill far fewer birds than cats or towers. It also quoted the wind-industry trade group (AWEA): there is no rule forcing turbines to shut off after a set number of eagle deaths. Snopes said building turbines does have a carbon footprint, but studies find it is far outweighed by the fossil fuels wind replaces. Newsweek tied the speech to Trump's earlier anti-wind remarks, including an April 2019 line that "they say the noise causes cancer."

  • govinfo.gov statement
    We'll have an economy based on wind. I never understood wind.
  • Snopes article
    Occupy Democrats did not misquote Trump and quoted word-for-word from his actual remarks
  • Newsweek (pre–2013) article
    President Donald Trump on Saturday renewed his long standing feud against windmills
  • youtube.com video
    We'll have an economy based on wind. I never understood wind.

Sources: govinfo.gov reliable · Snopes reliable · The Hill reliable · Newsweek (pre–2013) needs a second source

Apr 2019 The noise causes cancer

On April 2, 2019, at a Republican fundraising dinner, Trump said a windmill near your house cuts its value by 75% and that "they say the noise causes cancer" (AP). In the same speech he repeated a story about a woman who can't watch TV because "the wind hasn't blown for three days." CNN noted that homes using wind power don't lose power when the wind stops. So the speech combined the health claim with the "doesn't work when the wind isn't blowing" claim. AP and PolitiFact found no evidence that turbine noise causes cancer, and the American Cancer Society said it was "unaware of any credible evidence." Iowa's two Republican senators publicly rejected the claim: Grassley called it "idiotic" and Ernst called it "ridiculous."

  • boston.com article
    If you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations. Your house just went down 75% of value. And they say the noise causes cancer.
  • CNN article
    were first of all idiotic
  • PolitiFact article
    Trump said windmill noise causes cancer. The White House provided no evidence. No study supports the statement.
  • c-span.org video Watch
    if you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations: Your house just went down 75 percent in value. And they say the noise causes cancer.

Sources: boston.com needs a second source · CNN reliable · PolitiFact reliable · The Washington Post reliable

Mar 2019 "When the wind doesn't blow… turn off the television"

Trump told CPAC on March 2, 2019, that "When the wind stops blowing, that's the end of your electric," and joked about someone unable to watch television (PolitiFact). He repeated the TV joke at the Lima tank plant on March 20 (White House transcript) and at the Grand Rapids rally on March 28. In between, on Hannity, he said wind "wouldn't have worked… because it only blows sometimes" (Newsweek, HuffPost). PolitiFact rated the CPAC line Mostly False. It said wind's intermittency is "a legitimate concern" that experts call manageable on the current interconnected grid. FactCheck.org said people "do not lose their electricity when the wind doesn't blow."

  • trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov statement
    When the wind doesn't blow, just turn off the television, darling, please.
  • Newsweek (pre–2013) article
    Windmills. Weeeee. And if it doesn't blow, you can forget about television for that night.
  • HuffPost article
    You look at the fact that we would have been powered by wind, which wouldn't have worked, by the way, because it only blows sometimes and lots of problems come about.
  • The Washington Post video Watch transcript
    When the wind stops blowing, that's the end of your electric

Sources: PolitiFact reliable · factcheck.org reliable · Newsweek (pre–2013) needs a second source · HuffPost needs a second source