Donald Trump Goes on Wild Rant About Windmills as Irish Prime Minister Nearly Busts Out Laughing

During a White House meeting on Tuesday, March 17, to commemorate St. Patrick's Day, President Donald Trump launched into a lengthy, unintelligible rant against "windmills" (wind turbines) while seated next to Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin, who struggled to contain his laughter.

Triggered by a question about U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump diverted into a monologue about wind energy.

“Windmills all over the country, destroying those gorgeous Scottish fields,” Trump said.

The president took his rant to China, the world’s largest producer and consumer of wind energy, repeating a lie that they don’t use wind turbines.

“Windmills, which don’t work, uh, they’re tremendously expensive, and the best testament to that is the windmills are made in China, but China doesn’t use them,” Trump fibbed.

Trump explicitly stated, "I'm proudly telling you that we’re going to try and have no windmills built in the United States during my term," labeling them the "worst" and "most expensive" form of energy.

“They’re very bad environmentally, they kill the birds, they’re unsightly, they make a lot of noise, and for some reason, the environmentalists love windmills,” he added.

Martin appeared to be "stifling a laugh,” noted observers, struggling to keep a straight face during the unprompted tirade.

Trump's almost Quixotic animosity toward wind energy is long-standing, partly rooted in his past legal battles to prevent a wind farm near his Trump International Golf Links resort in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

Windmills weren’t the only things prompting the Irish PM to stifle awkward laughter.

At one point, Trump jokingly asked Martin if Ireland would "take Rosie O'Donnell," which prompted a confused laugh about the American actress and comedian who moved to The Emerald Isle, citing the president’s reelection.

Martin wasn’t the only Irish leader to face Trump’s inappropriate, awkward rants.

In 2017, then-Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was filmed uncomfortably smiling and laughing when Trump interrupted their phone call to compliment an Irish reporter's "nice smile."

“I want to see the ocean, I do not want to see windmills‚” he said in 2006.

Trump visited his Scottish golf course in 2025, during which time he reupped his hatred for windmills.

“Stop the windmills! You are ruining your countries. I really mean it,” he said in June. “It’s so sad. You fly over, and you see the windmills all over the place ruining your beautiful fields and valleys and killing your birds, and — if they are stuck in the ocean —ruining your oceans.”