Conservatives, historically, have not been keen on renewable energy, or acceptance of climate change as a thing that is in fact happening. This has often been chalked up to the insecurity of renewable energy sources– if money gets funneled towards the newfangled energy machine and the newfangled energy machine goes kersplat, the folks who grew up on the legends of Paul Bunyan and have drawn a false equivalency may start to wonder where their money’s gone. In recent years, however, renewable energy has proven safer and more reliable than current widespread nonrenewable energy sources. Which leaves one to wonder– why has Donald Trump doubled down on these?
In May of 2025, Donald Trump’s spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt answered questions from children in the White House, likely to get the fawning and cooing from elderly conservatives about how cute kids are. At this event, one child asked Leavitt, “what is Donald Trump going to do about climate change?” Notably, this was not a kindergartener without a thought behind their eyes. The speaker in question was of some formidable age, old enough and intelligent enough to know that he has a stake in the future and wants to know more, on a physical level, what the world he’s supposed to inhabit might look like.
Leavitt, in a fashion that makes us wonder why Trump even has a spokeswoman if she exhibits no greater speaking capabilities than Trump himself, avoided the question. “The president cares very much about our environment. He says all the time he wants to have the cleanest air, the cleanest water, the cleanest environment of the world,” said Leavitt. “He also cares very much about our energy independence and ensuring that we can keep the lights on in our homes at a very cheap rate, so we wanna make energy here in the United States, because we do it cleaner and better than everyone.”
Mind you, the kid who asked the question seemed formidable, but not intimidating. Playing PR mind games with journalists who ask loaded questions and goad interviewees towards an agenda makes some semblance of sense. Doing the same with a child, who tries to do literally nothing but accrue addendums to their worldview. In a way, Leavitt answered the kid’s question– Trump’s doing nothing for the environment because he’s too preoccupied with money and guarding America’s ego.
This is acutely reflected through the measures Trump has taken in eliminating environmental offices and slashing/withdrawing from environmental contracts. Project 2025 initiatives such as eliminating the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights have already come to fruition, while larger goals listed in the document- including the elimination of the Conservation Reserve Program- are yet to be started. Already, regulations and protections that took years to be put in place are now being repealed, scientists laid off for being “too alarmist”, and protection of our environment being threatened for the sake of business. Every Biden-era executive order- acts that forbid companies from killing migratory birds, for example, or orders that protect 30% of American land and water- has been repealed. National parks are under siege. The US is still facing repercussions from its withdrawal from the Paris agreement and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Many of the actions Trump and the administration have put America years behind schedule and caused damage to our ecosystems that will take decades to replace or repair.
The reason behind this is clear- this administration simply does not care. About the livability of America, the sanctity of its nature, or any of the regulations previous administrations have established to preserve our rapidly-dwindling natural world. After cutting down social security, violence and immediate public outrage at ICE deployment and border control measures, and undelivered promises of tax cuts, Trump has absolutely decimated the very platform he ran on. The only things remaining are his legacy and economy, the former of which hangs in the balance with very little he can do about it; the latter is still in his control. Ensuring the capital from nonrenewable energy sources is a heel-digging effort. The Trump administration cares about making rich shareholders even richer, and fuck the consequences for everyone who comes after.
Image credit: Arab News
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