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Presidential Debate 2020: Trump labeled 'f**king insane' and 'delusional' for claiming wind energy kills birds

'It’s extremely expensive, kills all the birds, it’s very intermittent, it’s got a lot of problems, and they happen to make the windmills in both Germany and China,' Trump said

President Donald Trump was mocked on social media on Thursday night, October 22, for making a bizarre claim, saying wind energy "kills all the birds." Trump made the statement during the final presidential debate against political rival Joe Biden in Nashville, Tennessee. The Republican, on the topic of climate change, boasted about knowing more about wind energy. He told Biden, "I know more about wind than you" as the candidates discussed how they planned to combat climate change while supporting job growth. 

Biden, in his response, stated that solar and wind energy industries are booming, and brought to notice Trump's anti-scientific rhetoric about wind turbines. At which point Trump responded, saying: "I know more about wind than you do. It’s extremely expensive, kills all the birds, it’s very intermittent, it’s got a lot of problems, and they happen to make the windmills in both Germany and China. And the fumes coming up — if you’re a believer in carbon emission — the fumes coming up to make these massive windmills is more than anything that we are talking about with natural gas." The Democratic nominee then concluded this argument by saying: "Find me a scientist who says that."

Several social media quickly caught on to Trump's absurd claims, with actor John Cusack tweeting: "Trump knows more about wind / kills all the birds / The fumes to make windmills worse then the real causes of global warming - Got it? This man is f**king insane." A Twitter user wrote: "Trump isn't very educated about Global warming is he lol. 'Wind turbines killing all the birds' LOLWUT?!" A third added: "Trump on the environment-the wind is too, expensive, kills birds and causes fumes. The sun is not powerful enough. Biden wants to get rid of windows. Who else laughed out loud listening to this?"

One called the president "delusional" for making unfounded claims: "Trump: I know more about the wind then you do. It’s extremely expensive, kills all the birds... has a lot of problems sir you are delusional." A fifth called Trump a "chronic liar," writing: "Geez Trump is a shameless, chronic liar. Claims he's lowered emissions, has cleanest air & water! Not a fact, a plan or a statistic - rambling like a loony, just making it up as he goes along. 'Wind energy kills all the birds.' Watching this debate is bad for my blood pressure."

The president has also made similar claims about wind turbines previously, claiming that they destroy property value and the noise emanating from them causes cancer. None of these claims have any evidence. Trump has also previously referred to the bird claim, although wind turbines do have an impact on birds, they face more significant threats from cats, cars, cell towers and windows. The Republican has often been accused of launching a "war on wind" after he filed a lawsuit in an attempt to prevent a wind farm from being built in view of his luxury golf club in Scotland. The president, however, was unsuccessful in the attempt.

Thursday's debate was the final presidential debate of the year, held just days away from the presidential elections scheduled on November 3.