Trump Sets Off Alarm Bells with Incoherent Rant

President Donald Trump turned a question about the future of Northern Ireland into a lengthy attack on wind turbines Sunday, delivering a head-spinning response during his visit to Ireland.

Trump, 80, was speaking to reporters at the Amgen Irish Open at his Trump International golf resort in Doonbeg when he was asked about his surprise support for a united Ireland.

The president had already caused a political stir a day earlier when he said he would “love” to see Northern Ireland unified with the Republic of Ireland, calling the idea “fantastic.”

But when reporters pressed him Sunday about British Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s response, Trump quickly veered in another direction.

Trump said he had spoken with Burnham and called him a “very nice guy,” before adding that the British leader “tends to be on the liberal side, unfortunately.”

Then came the sudden pivot.

“The one thing he is going to be doing, I think he’s going to be stopping the stupid windmills and he’s going to be drilling in the North Sea,” Trump said.

As reporters continued asking questions about Ireland, Trump kept talking about wind power.

“No more windmills,” he declared, arguing that homes located near turbines lose value.

Trump then shifted his attention to Scotland, complaining about the country’s embrace of wind energy and calling the situation “a shame.”

He even launched into a discussion about what happens to turbine blades after wind farms are dismantled.

The strange detour stood out because Trump had been answering questions about one of the most politically sensitive issues involving Britain and Ireland.

Under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland can hold a referendum on leaving the United Kingdom and joining the Republic of Ireland if the British government believes a majority would support such a move.

Burnham recently said he does not believe that level of public support currently exists and that a referendum is therefore not on the table.

Trump, however, has taken a strikingly different position.

During his Ireland visit, he said reunification would eventually happen and suggested it “may as well happen now,” remarks that drew criticism from pro-British unionists in Northern Ireland while being welcomed by Irish nationalists.

Trump’s hostility toward wind turbines is nothing new.

He has fought wind-energy projects for years and unsuccessfully opposed an offshore wind farm near his Aberdeen golf property in Scotland. Since returning to the White House, his administration has also repeatedly clashed with the U.S. wind industry.

Still, the president’s decision to turn a question about Irish unification into another broadside against windmills quickly became a talking point online.

One critic joked that Northern Ireland’s constitutional future had somehow become tangled up with Trump’s long-running golf-course battle against renewable energy.

Others questioned why the president appeared more interested in discussing turbines than directly addressing the sensitive diplomatic issue reporters had asked about.

Whatever Trump intended, the exchange ensured that his comments about Ireland were once again overshadowed by one of his favorite political targets — windmills.