- Biden's campaign on Friday came out swinging at Trump, calling the ex-president "confused."
- The president's team posted the remark to X while linking to Trump's discussion of energy policy.
- In the speech, the former president blasted wind energy and railed against pollution from China.
Former President Donald Trump during a Friday campaign speech in Iowa railed against wind energy and instead advocated for oil production and the fossil fuel industry, a common talking point at many of his rallies.
But it was a series of statements that Trump made during a series of remarks in Sioux Center that prompted President Joe Biden's reelection campaign to slam the former president as "confused."
Trump earlier in his remarks spoke of the need to "drill, drill, drill" for oil and opined that wind power was "extremely expensive" before pointing to China as the producer of windmills.
Trump, confused: Over the seas and over our land. And then they want us to have clean. I said wait, we’re gonna be clean but it’s all flying. Just remember that. Does that make sense? In other words, it’s all coming through the currents through the air, they can name it pic.twitter.com/bvkgaMakCY
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) January 6, 2024
"Remember this: the currents, both sea and air, they fly right over our country," he said. "The current, the water comes down the Pacific, right out of China, so when they dump their garbage in the Pacific it comes right down along our coast, on the West Coast past Los Angeles."
"Much of it pours onto our land, but our waters are very dirty because they dump their garbage in the ocean and it's about a four or five day journey," he continued. "The tides bring it by. Nobody ever talks about that."
Trump said that the US needed "clean coal" and natural gas, and pledged to "protect our miners." The former president then continued to discuss pollution and currents.
"When they fire up their plants and all of that pollution comes over the seas and it comes right over our land. And then they want us to have clean," he said. "I said wait, 'We're gonna be clean but it's all flying.' Just remember that. Does that make sense?"
"In other words, it's all coming through the currents, through the air, it all comes," he continued. "They can name it, they can say exactly where it's going to be and when."
Trump also expressed his frustration at the Biden administration's push for wind energy while countries like China continue to consume substantial amounts of fossil fuels.
With Biden expected to win the Democratic presidential nomination and Trump still the frontrunner for the GOP nomination, a rematch of their 2020 contest later this year looks increasingly likely. While Trump and his allies have sought to make an issue of the 81-year-old Biden's age, it is unclear how much Democrats will lob the issue back at the GOP in a contest against the 77-year-old Trump.