'Darling, the Wind Isn't Blowing': Critics Say Donald Trump Is Sundowning After Bonkers Rant

US President Donald Trump's latest attack on renewable energy has triggered a wave of ridicule and unease after a rambling appearance in Washington on Thursday, where critics say he sounded like a man sundowning on stage.

Speaking at the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters, Trump launched into a bonkers rant about wind power while unveiling his new Ratepayer Protection Pledge.

He claimed Democrats 'want less energy, not more' and warned they would 'send your prices soaring' if they had the chance. At one point, he suggested Americans might not be able to watch a televised debate if 'the wind isn't blowing', a remark that lit up social media within minutes.

The renewable energy tirade, and the surreal 'darling, the wind isn't blowing' line in particular, has become the latest shorthand for critics who argue Donald Trump is increasingly detached from reality.

'Green New Scam': How Donald Trump Turned Renewable Energy Into a Villain

The news came after months of Trump casting climate policies as a kind of national con, branding them the 'Green New Scam'. On Thursday, he told the Washington audience that 'the whole country was' scammed, then paused to insist that he personally 'wasn't scammed'. 'I got it right from the beginning,' he said. 'I got it from the first minute when I heard this c—. You know, they were saying wind was so wonderful.'

He then pivoted into the line that would dominate the online reaction. Trump said, 'Except you couldn't watch your television. They wanted to watch the debate. Donald Trump against sleepy Joe Biden. Nobody could watch it because the wind wasn't blowing. Remember that? Darling, would like to watch the debate tonight? I'm sorry. The wind isn't blowing.'

There was laughter in the room, but outside the EPA walls, the clip landed very differently.

Energy specialists were quick to note that US grids do not simply shut down if one source is not generating, and that modern systems balance wind, solar, gas and other inputs in real time.

Trump, who has often claimed wind turbines are unreliable and dangerous, again provided no evidence.

Critics Say Donald Trump Is 'Sundowning' After Renewable Energy Rant

Social media reaction was ferocious and, at times, darkly funny. Users on X branded the renewable energy comments 'incoherent', 'embarrassing' and 'completely bonkers.'

A number of critics accused Trump of 'sundowning.' IBTimes UK cannot independently verify any claims about Trump's health.

Some posts questioned why the president keeps returning to the 'wind isn't blowing' trope when grid operators have publicly explained it is not how the system works.

It can be recalled that Trump has framed Democrats as hostile to cheap energy, claiming on Thursday that they 'want less energy, not more.' He warned that if they had their way, they would 'send your prices soaring.'

Yet the price story is more tangled than his soundbites allow. According to figures, electricity costs are up about 4% from last year and overall energy costs have risen 16%, and that surge predates many of his most recent decisions on renewables.

Renewable Energy Rant Wrapped Around a Data Centre Pledge

Thursday's EPA event was officially about something far drier than wind jokes. Trump was unveiling his Ratepayer Protection Pledge, a White House initiative first floated in March that aims to shield households from the rising utility costs linked to artificial intelligence data centres.

These vast facilities, crammed with servers and cooling systems, are energy-hungry, which has stoked opposition in communities from suburban Virginia to rural Utah.

Trump announced that 23 Republican governors and nearly 200 stakeholders, including major utility companies, data centre developers and public power co-operatives, have now signed the pledge.

Companies that join commit to 'protect American consumers from price hikes due to data centre energy and infrastructure requirements, and lower electricity costs for consumers in the long term.'

Governors sign an addendum promising to implement those principles 'to the greatest extent possible in our respective positions.'

White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers presented it as a bold move to marry AI growth with voter protection. 'President Trump is expanding the Ratepayer Protection Pledge to governors, legislators, developers, and power providers to ensure everyone involved in building and powering data centres covers their own costs instead of passing them on to American families,' she said in a statement.

She argued that this would turn data centres into 'engines of growth for local communities, while cementing America's dominance in the global AI race.'

Applause, Atmospherics and a President at War With Renewable Energy

Trump entered to Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA as the crowd rose to its feet. After greeting the officials on stage, he stood behind his chair as the applause rolled on for more than 70 seconds, only sitting once the music stopped. At the end of the event, he was clapped again for almost a full minute as he exited, this time without the soundtrack.

On X, some viewers likened the scenes to the carefully choreographed ovations seen in authoritarian states, saying the 'never-ending' applause had 'North Korea vibes'.

Trump, for his part, seems determined to keep tying his political identity to old-school energy and heavy infrastructure. He recently hailed data centres as 'big, strong, bold, and Money Machines' and called New York Governor Kathy Hochul's one-year pause on new centres a 'terrible decision.'

He says the companies behind these hubs are flocking to 'red states' like Alabama, Florida and Texas. On the ground, though, fights over data centres are breaking out in blue and red communities alike, including Palm Beach, the gilded home of his own Mar-a-Lago resort.

Donald Trump has been attacking renewable energy for years, often reserving special scorn for wind farms. He has previously told world leaders that 'the high cost of so-called green renewable energy is destroying a large part of the free world and a large part of our planet', a claim climate and economic experts flatly reject.

Since returning to office, he has followed that rhetoric with action, cancelling or halting around $ 8 billion worth of renewable energy projects, with a clear emphasis on schemes in Democrat-majority states.

Renewable energy advocates say those cancellations have slowed investment and sent mixed signals to industry, although the administration insists it is protecting consumers. That long-running hostility set the stage for what unfolded at the EPA.

Caught between rising bills, climate pressure and an AI race with China, the United States is wrestling with how to power its future. Trump's answer is to trash renewable energy in public, promise protection on paper and embrace data centres as the new gold rush.

Whether voters are willing to buy that mix, especially when 'the wind isn't blowing', is a question that will not be settled by one strange night at the EPA.