Trump jokes about staying as president after 2024 and misunderstands wind turbines again

Donald Trump brought out some of his greatest hits at a speech to energy workers on Tuesday – joking about his ignorance about wind power and serving more than two terms as president.

The event in Pennsylvania was supposed to be an official presidential visit but Trump’s speech sounded more like a campaign rally as he attacked Democratic candidates and boasted about his poll numbers (which are actually quite bad).

At one point, the president brought out one of his favourite gags about how wind turbines run out of electricity as soon as the wind stops (they don’t, because energy is stored).

It's never been 100 per cent clear why Trump hates wind turbines so much but one reason he gives is that they destroy "property value".

That's significant because in 2015 Trump failed in an attempt to block an offshore wind farm being built in Scotland after he complained it would spoil the view at his multi-million-pound golf development...

However, some people, such as conservative commentator Jon Miller, have claimed Trump's comments are just obvious jokes.

But is it really unfair to believe Trump doesn’t understand how wind turbines work? We already know he is ignorant about basic climate science and his administration is rolling back environmental protections.

He also keeps making the same joke – despite being repeatedly told why he’s wrong.

In May, he claimed wind turbines don’t work when it’s not windy and made a bizarre rant about turbines killing bald eagles.

And in April, he suggested the noise from windmills causes cancer – it wasn’t even clear if he was joking or not.

Later on in the speech, Trump repeated another concerning joke about serving more than two terms as president.

Trump has said he likes repeating this line because it drives his opponents "crazy" but some people have wondered if the comment is more than a harmless joke.

If you consider that Trump has previously spread false claims about voter fraud and repeatedly complained that the political system is “rigged” against him, would it really be surprising if he refused to leave quietly in 2020 or 2024?

As always, it's important to remember that none of this is normal - it's not even close to being normal.

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