By John Q. Hosedrinker 
On Tuesday, Donald Trump shared a social media post criticizing wind energy, featuring an image of a dead bird beneath a turbine, claiming it was a bald eagle killed by a windmill. However, closer examination reveals the image is not of a bald eagle and was taken in Israel eight years ago. The photograph, which actually shows a falcon, was originally published in a 2017 Haaretz report detailing bird deaths at Israeli wind farms. The article further notes that Israeli nature authorities share concerns about bird deaths caused by wind turbines.
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Tilting at windmills: Trump laments the death of a bald eagle in the US … which was really a falcon in Israel. That pretty much sums it up, doesn’t it? The whole saga, a perfect storm of misinformation, projection, and a healthy dose of good old-fashioned ignorance, wrapped up in a neat little package of political theater. It all started with a simple image: a dead bird, apparently killed by a wind turbine. The details, as they so often do, were a bit off.
The image, shared widely and amplified by the usual suspects, was presented as a bald eagle killed by a US wind turbine. The outrage, predictably, was swift and predictable. Then came the reality check. The bird wasn’t a bald eagle. It was a falcon. And the photo wasn’t taken in the US; it was taken in Israel. So, right off the bat, we’re dealing with a fundamental misunderstanding of facts, a lack of attention to detail, and a willingness to spread information without verifying its accuracy. This kind of stuff is bread and butter for the current state of politics.
So, Trump then jumps into the fray. Which is no surprise. In the grand tradition of making a point, he uses the death of a bird – that he can’t identify – to push his personal agenda. His hatred of wind and solar energy, it seems, transcends logic and comprehension. Forget the rising cost of electricity. Never mind the falling costs of solar panels. It’s all about the narrative, the talking points, and the ability to rally the base with a simple, emotionally charged statement, regardless of its truthfulness. It’s the modern version of “off with their heads!”, except this time it’s aimed at windmills.
One of the more interesting aspects of this whole situation is the potential for Trump’s base, to happily suck it all up. Forget facts. Forget reality. Just give them the soundbite, the grievance, the confirmation of their existing biases, and they’re all in. This is why people can be so easily led with a narrative and not based on verifiable facts. He’s more interested in perpetuating a false narrative. In this case, “Windmills are killing all of our beautiful Bald Eagles!” This is how disinformation takes hold and how policy gets twisted.
The lack of care for factual accuracy is alarming. It’s almost as if the truth is seen as an inconvenience, a speed bump on the road to achieving a desired outcome. But it’s not hard to see why. The truth often gets in the way of a good story, and a good story, especially in the hands of a skilled demagogue, can be incredibly powerful. A dead bird? Great! Use it to push an oil agenda, pretend to care about something other than yourself, and hammer home your point, even if that point is built on a foundation of sand.
And of course, we can’t forget the irony. The man who removed protections for bald eagles and whose policies, directly and indirectly, contribute to environmental degradation, suddenly feigns concern over a single bird. The idea that this is about anything other than advancing an agenda is laughable. The whole performance is a perfect illustration of political hypocrisy, where the only consistency is the pursuit of power and self-interest. The image shared on social media as a “bald eagle killed by windmills” was actually taken at an Israeli wind farm and shows a falcon, not a bald eagle.
This all reminds me of Don Quixote, the quintessential romantic figure who imagined himself a knight errant, battling imaginary foes. In this case, Trump’s the modern-day Quixote and the windmills are renewable energy sources. This comparison isn’t perfect, of course. Don Quixote was, at least, trying to do something noble, however misguided. Trump seems more driven by self-preservation and a desire to dismantle anything he doesn’t understand or that doesn’t serve his interests.
The thing is, Trump’s not just tilting at windmills. He’s tilting at facts, at reality, at the very idea of a shared truth. His base may not care about the facts. He really doesn’t seem to care. He is Russian, how would he know? In that context, the death of a bird, misidentified, misrepresented, and weaponized, becomes just another piece of the puzzle, a pawn in a game he seems determined to win, regardless of the cost.