Donald Trump’s long-standing hatred of wind power and “windmills” could ultimately cause severe damage to Republican states that overwhelmingly back the president.
A report from The Wall Street Journal notes that the top four U.S. states in terms of wind energy production—Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas—are all GOP strongholds.
However, it is Iowa, where Trump won by 13 points in the 2024 election, that could be hardest hit by the president’s long-running vendetta against wind energy and “ugly” wind turbines. The Hawkeye State already has more than 100 large wind farms providing thousands of jobs, with two more scheduled to be operational by the end of 2027, according to federal data cited by the Journal.
Former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, who served as Trump’s ambassador to China during his first term, emphasized his disagreement with the president’s push to curb renewable energy production in favor of fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas, and coal.
“We want to make sure that he understands wind energy is important for Iowa,” Branstad told the Journal.
Current Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds also underscored that wind energy is crucial for the state, noting that Iowa’s wind farms help residents enjoy some of the lowest electricity prices in the country.
“We don’t have gas or oil in our state, but we have renewables,” Reynolds, a Republican, told the Journal. “We have biofuels and we have wind. We are on a wind path. So, we can make it work for our state.”
Trump has waged a feverish crackdown on the renewable energy industry since returning to office, halting construction on major offshore wind farms, freezing approval of new wind farm permits, and seeking to revoke those already approved.
The president has made no secret of his disdain for wind turbines, frequently talking about how he hates how they look and bizarrely claiming they kill whales, birds, and even humans. His long-running feud dates back to his outrage over offshore turbines being allowed to be installed off the coast near his golf resort in Aberdeen, Scotland, which he claimed ruined the view.
“You see these windmills all over the place, ruining your beautiful fields and valleys and killing your birds, and if they’re stuck in the ocean, ruining your oceans,” Trump said during his four-day trip to Scotland in July.
Some Iowa Republicans are now expressing concern that Trump’s open hostility toward wind energy could have political consequences for the GOP in the 2026 midterms, according to the Journal.
Iowa will have an open gubernatorial and U.S. Senate race next November, along with two competitive House elections.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
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