King Trump The Fool Railed At The UNiverse, While Clean Energy Stood Waiting In The Wings – CleanTechnica

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The man who would be King, Donald J. Trump, railed at leaders from across the planet at the United Nations this week. Extending his allotted 15 minutes into an hour-long address before the UN General Assembly on September 23, Trump contradicted leaders who promote “the green energy agenda.” He concluded that it had left many European countries “on the brink of destruction.” He played Trump the Fool before a full house.

What kind of host was he? He insulted guests on his home turf — the 17 acres of land in midtown Manhattan where the headquarters of the UN is located. Instead of being a diplomat and visionary, Trump contradicted common sense leadership. Maturity, dignity, truth-telling, compassion, vision, and adaptability were totally absent.

We might’ve expected him to don the elegant demeanor of a US President elected for a second term. Nope. Trump complained and ranted and attacked his audience. He showed his true colors: he is egotistical, self-serving, and dishonest. He squashes disagreement, creates problems where none exist, and fails to honor his promises. He is a pessimist who imitates greatness but only displays weakness.

Perhaps “Trump the Fool” is a mere façade, you say, a mask he wears to push agendas that traditional diplomacy cannot tackle.

In literature, the archetypal Fool babbles, acts like a child, and doesn’t understand social conventions. Writers use the convention of the Fool to speak the truth in the guise of an innocent, naive, or simple being — it allows the narrative to expose the failings or hypocrisy of the main characters. The Fool is vulnerable and illuminating but never outwardly mean.

Trump is none of these things. Instead, his antagonism and posturing are embarrassing and downright dangerous, especially when it comes to climate action. His delusional rationale has sidelined the US from a wave of international climate collaboration. The US sits in a silo of climate denial.

The archetypal Fool represents new beginnings, faith in the future. Trump is not looking ahead; he’s regressive. Contradictions in his “One Big Beautiful Bill” take the US backward by eliminating or phasing out subsidies for electric cars, clean energy, and energy-efficient appliances. His proud moves include providing tax breaks and subsidies for oil and gas companies and opening up more federal lands and offshore areas for drilling and mining.

Trumps Clear Lies about Climate Trigger Audience Gasps

At a climate summit at the UN on Wednesday, the vast majority of the world’s nations gathered to make their newest pledges to reduce planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade. The US was noticeably absent. Instead, with a backward and destabilizing isolationist attitude, the US President is singlehandedly trying to dismantle US renewable energy infrastructure.

Scientific consensus about the climate emergency: When Trump spoke at the UN and said predictions about the climate emergency by the UN and the global science community “were wrong” and “were made by stupid people,” the assembled world leaders gasped in dismay. Many diplomats shook their heads. NASA disagrees, concluding that “scientific evidence continues to show that human activities (primarily the human burning of fossil fuels) have warmed Earth’s surface and its ocean basins, which in turn have continued to impact Earth’s climate. This is based on over a century of scientific evidence forming the structural backbone of today’s civilization.”

Who’s telling the lies here? Fuel costs could be slashed by $19 trillion by mid-century if countries speed up electrification and add renewables, according to BloombergNEF. Yet Trump the Fool — who likes to position himself as a great deal maker — called climate change a “hoax” and “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world” during his UN meandering speech.

The joke’s on you: The US President classlessly attacked renewable energy, calling it a “joke.” Wind and solar will together meet more than 90% of the increase in global electricity demand out to 2026, the IEA says, while modest growth for hydro power will add to renewables’ rise.

What’s wrong with wind and solar? Trump derided wind and solar farms “that go seven miles by seven miles,” saying, “we’re not letting this happen in America.” Actually, as of September 2025, there are 1,370 utility-scale wind farms in the US. The total operating capacity is 156,428 MW. Developers added 12 gigawatts (GW) of new utility-scale solar electric generating capacity in the US during the first half of 2025, and they plan to add another 21 GW in the second half of the year. Solar should account for more than half of the 64 GW that developers plan to bring online this year.

Who’s really the pathetic one? Attributing the emotion “pathetic” to wind turbines, Trump claimed that China has “very few wind farms.” CleanTechnica’s Steve Hanley explains Trump’s climate disinformation best. “China is now the global leader in transitioning away from burning fossil fuels,” Hanley says, “and making the US mania for dirty fuels that waste three quarters of their available energy look sillier every day.”

Coal in your stocking, Donald: “I call it clean, beautiful coal,” Trump said. An April executive order stated that “coal is essential to our national and economic security.” Carl Jung described the Fool as being a “potential future,” so that the Fool’s attempts and failures build into experience, character, and — eventually — the archetype of the Sage or Savior. Coal can never be clean; it is harmful to both people and the planet. In the short term, coal cannot compete with other sources of power, and it must try do so in fossil fuel markets that continue to decline. By promoting coal, Trump is being antithetical to the good of his people — not stately or wise at all.

Final Thoughts about Trump the Fool

Crazy is as crazy does, They say.

Yesterday Trump signed a memorandum targeting activists and nonprofits as part of what he called a “terror network” that he claims is fueling violence, especially against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. He and his allies claim that “radical left Democrats” or “Radical Left Terrorists” are behind that violence, although, as scholar of authoritarianism Timothy Snyder notes, the majority of political violence in the US comes from the right.

Authoritarians always say the country is facing an emergency and that their opponents are “terrorists,” Snyder adds.

The document gives law enforcement wide latitude to “investigate, prosecute, and disrupt entities and individuals” engaged in behavior the administration opposes.

So every time we in the media out the Trump administration for their anti-democratic actions, we face the likelihood of federal scrutiny. My family has made copies of our birth certificates and placed them in our EVs, e-bikes, backpacks, and luggage. You just never know. ICE agents have daily quotas, after all.