Twitter Horrified After Trump Claims Wind Farm Noise Causes Cancer: ‘He is Deranged’
Donald Trump stunned and horrified many Twitter users by claiming that the noise from windmills “causes cancer,” a claim for which there is no scientific evidence.
After spending Tuesday expelling a flurry of lies that included his own father’s birthplace, Trump dropped more whoppers at a National Republican Congressional Committee fundraising dinner. At one point, he went off on a riff about wind energy.
“Hillary wanted to put up wind, wind,” Trump said. “If you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations your house just went down 75% in value.”
A 2013 U.S. government study concluded that “wind facilities, after they have been constructed, produce little or no effect on home values.”
“And they say the noise causes cancer,” Trump added, a claim supported by no study ever. He then imitated the noise, presumably at great risk to his own health.
Trump’s noise claim generated a lot of noise on Twitter, some amused and some horrified. The Daily Beast’s Sam Stein pretty much summed it all up in one go.
seriously. What is going on people? https://t.co/ubWtq9Ys0X
— Sam Stein (@samstein) April 3, 2019
Still, the reactions…
The “wind turbines give you cancer” thing is such a deep cut in the conspiracy ecosystem, it’s remarkable it navigated its way to Trump, who doesn’t really use the internet other than to tweet.
Whatever grapevine he heard this through must have some really wild stuff in it.
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) April 3, 2019
Wind turbine noise causes cancer.
There are entire internet communities that spend hours upon hours cooking up vast and complicated narratives where Donald Trump is a mastermind orchestrating world affairs. They edit videos. For hours.
— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) April 3, 2019
1) President’s ongoing attacks on wind energy (he says tonight that turbines cause cancer) infuriates supporters in big wind states like Iowa and Texas
2) Trump has fought Scottish officials over turbines near his properties— West Wing Reports (@WestWingReport) April 3, 2019
How many times can a man turn his head and pretend that he just doesn’t see? https://t.co/JB1F3qsqe6
— Josh Greenman (@joshgreenman) April 3, 2019
Trump tells Republicans wind turbine noise causes cancer, because he is deranged https://t.co/vXafmyE7Ni pic.twitter.com/jUbyW4kC3B
— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) April 3, 2019
What’s the opposite of hinged? https://t.co/3rJOl1NwMZ
— (((David Lytle))) (@davitydave) April 3, 2019
It’s great that the leader of the most powerful nation on earth is either profoundly stupid or suffering from dementia. https://t.co/kqODY8SmzN
— Paul S. Kemp (@Paulskemp) April 3, 2019
The sound equipment jokes were great, though.
Get the Bose Cancer Cancelling headphones.
— pourmecoffee (@pourmecoffee) April 3, 2019
Good thing I got some Beatscancer by Dre. https://t.co/gYfGGHsPAZ
— Bryan Luhn (@bryluhn) April 3, 2019
But the best were probably these movie references.
he would make outrageous claims, like he invented the question mark. sometimes, he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy https://t.co/TjARS9hwgS
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) April 3, 2019
This sounds like one of the lines when Ron Burgundy is talking about the meaning of San Diego https://t.co/6ORKssJNSn
— Katherine Miller (@katherinemiller) April 3, 2019
This was too on target to pass up.
….okay i just HAVE to reference this now pic.twitter.com/QpRW6LMMyY
— i taught the toaster to feel love! (@platypusbunny) April 3, 2019
So there were a lot of laughs at the idea, and some weirdly unnecessary fact-checks, but the people who were horrified probably have the sanest reaction. We can now look forward to Federalist writers swooping in to “explain” what Trump “meant”, and the inevitable Breitbart columnists claiming they have sound cancer that can only be cured by getting rid of Obamacare.
Watch the clip above, via C-SPAN.
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