The wreckage of one man’s power

Tonight at 5:44 PM, President Trump returned to his digital megaphone to spread another deliberate lie, posting a photo of a dead bird lying beneath a wind turbine. The caption read, “Windmills are killing all of our beautiful Bald Eagles!” It caught my attention right away because the bird in the image isn’t a bald eagle.

At first glance, I thought it was a golden eagle. But after a little digging, it seems to be a Kestrel, and the photo looks to have been taken in Israel, back in 2017. So let’s start there. The image is misidentified. The bird is not American. And the claim is flat-out false. Wind turbines are not “killing all our bald eagles.” Bird strikes do happen, yes, but they are less common than he is trying to make them appear, and nowhere near the top of the list when it comes to causes of bird deaths. Fossil fuels, through direct impacts like oil pits and indirect effects like climate change, are significantly deadlier, causing far more bird fatalities and posing a greater long-term threat to avian populations by altering habitats and weather patterns. Oil extraction and related infrastructure, pits, power lines, flare stacks, kill hundreds of thousands to millions of birds annually. Wind turbines account for far fewer, often considered less harmful than buildings or even domestic cats. And this isn’t about not wanting to protect our avian populations.

I follow a plant-based diet. I love animals of all kinds, but this isn’t about animals; it’s about manipulation from a man who has no concern for wildlife. And for those of us who actually care about life, human, animal, and ecological, it’s infuriating to see that compassion used as bait for lies. And a way to hijack empathy and turn it against the very future it’s meant to protect.

If you want to understand how much this kind of misinformation distorts the truth, look no further than the science. Back in January of this year, the BBC published an excellent article titled “Which is worse for wildlife, wind farms or oil drilling?” that cuts through the noise and gets to the core of what’s at stake. It offers a reality check we desperately need right now. One expert quoted in the piece, Beth Scott, a professor of marine ecology at the University of Aberdeen, a global leader in wind energy, didn’t mince words: “Fossil fuels, and their effect on climate change, outweigh everything. Climate change is by far, by far the worst enemy, to all wildlife, and humans.”

And the bald eagle isn’t just any bird. It’s been the national symbol of the United States since 1782, chosen for its strength and independence, which isn’t exactly true in and of itself, but that’s another story for another day. (They’re notorious for stealing food from other birds, less warrior, more opportunist, but that mythology stuck anyway.) It adorns our currency, our courtrooms, and our presidential seal. For generations, it’s represented freedom, resilience, and pride. So the fact that the President of the United States couldn’t even identify our own national bird, mistaking a falcon from Israel for a bald eagle, isn’t just embarrassing, it’s absurd. It would be laughable if it weren’t so revealing. This wasn’t a harmless error. It reduces a symbol of American identity to a cheap prop in a performative outrage campaign. And that’s the point. Mislabel something, spark emotion, and hijack it for political gain. That’s the formula. That’s the con.

But that’s not even the most important part. The bigger question is why. Why is he, once again, spreading blatant misinformation about renewable energy? It would be easy to dismiss it as just noise, more chaos, another impulsive post meant to rile people up. But when you look at the big picture, the pattern is clear. Trump is surrounded by people in tech, AI boosters, and digital executives, who know just how much energy their tools demand. They know that wind and solar are the only way forward. And yet, he’s waging a one-man propaganda war against clean energy, because telling the truth doesn’t serve the story he wants to sell.

And here’s the part that’s almost too exhausting to say out loud: we have to fact-check the president of the United States every single day. Every post, every quote, every press release. We have to stop and ask: does this fit his narrative too perfectly? Is this too convenient? And 99.9% of the time, the answer is yes. It is propaganda, and it is relentless. No other president has required this level of constant vigilance. Of course, every leader should be held accountable. But this isn’t just accountability. This is self-defense. It is emotionally draining to live in a country where the most powerful man in the government cannot be trusted with a single sentence.

And I worry about our kids. We tell them to look up to leaders, to value truth, to find good role models. We’ve had those talks in our house, what makes someone worth looking up to? What does real leadership even mean? And we’ve had to tell them that the President of the United States is supposed to be one of those people. Someone you can trust. Someone who tells the truth. But instead, we’re stuck saying: yes, he was elected, but no, you can’t believe what he says. And that kind of contradiction doesn’t just confuse them, it chips away at their sense of what’s real. It makes lying seem normal. It makes corruption feel like just part of the job. And that’s how democracies fall. Not all at once, but little by little, when people stop believing anything better is even possible.

For decades, big oil companies have spent billions spreading lies about climate change and fighting clean energy laws. Now they’ve passed the torch to politicians like Trump. Same message, new voice. He’s made himself the loudest defender of oil, dressing it up as patriotism. What he’s really selling is fear, of change, of innovation, of a future that isn’t controlled by fossil fuels. His loyalty is with the billionaires in the oil industry, not the engineers building the next generation. And while he may posture like a modern strongman, his real fantasy is old-fashioned: to turn America into a petro-state like Saudi Arabia or Venezuela. He doesn’t care that we don’t have the reserves for that. He doesn’t care that it would collapse our economy and poison our land. Because for him, control matters more than sustainability. This isn’t strategy, it’s delusion. And if we let him drag us backwards, we’ll all pay the price.

Which brings me to the part that’s often left unsaid about Trump’s obsession with Venezuela, his attacks on green energy, his relentless push for oil dominance; none of it is ideological. It’s transactional. Fossil fuel is leverage. It means billions in campaign cash, geopolitical sway, and the illusion of national strength, and the further build-up of his king-like persona. Trump knows his base isn’t going to read energy reports or foreign policy briefings. But they’ll believe a picture of a dead bird and feel outrage.

And his corruption and incompetence go far beyond oil; they’re creeping into every part of American life. Just this week, new data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency showed that U.S. home prices rose at the slowest pace since 2012. On paper, that sounds like relief, but it shows that Trump’s “booming economy” narrative is a scam, exposed by his own government’s data. Slower home price growth doesn’t mean homes are suddenly affordable. It means the market is cooling while interest rates stay high, wages stay flat, and working families are still shut out. It’s not a sign of economic health. It’s a sign that the system is stalled and rigged, and the administration is trying to spin stagnation as success.

And then there’s democracy itself. Not just the abstract idea of it, but the real, tangible right to cast a vote without fear or interference. Democrats are already preparing for Trump to interfere in the 2026 midterms. Not because of anything that happened last election, but because of everything he’s signaling now. The lawsuits. The federal data grabs. The threats to deploy armed agents at polling places. You don’t need mass fraud to break an election. You just need enough people scared to show up. That’s how voter suppression works now, not by turning voters away at the door, but by making them afraid to walk through it in the first place.

And I’m thankful some people are seeing it for what it is. I hope they’re preparing, building the legal frameworks and community defense plans we’ll need when the pressure hits. I’ve been a vocal critic of Democratic leadership, especially when it comes to their fractured messaging, their lack of urgency, and their habit of playing catch-up. But this is the moment to rise. I hope, behind the scenes, they’re pulling together the kind of strategy and momentum we haven’t seen in years. I hope the new year brings not just a reset, but a surge.

Because the window is closing. But here’s the part Trump doesn’t control.

Voters are starting to pay closer attention. Just today, in Iowa, a Democrat won a special election for the state Senate, blocking Republicans from regaining a supermajority. Renee Hardman just became the first Black woman ever elected to the Iowa Senate. That seat wasn’t supposed to flip. But it did. And because Republicans fell short, they’ll now need Democratic support to confirm the governor’s nominees. That’s real leverage. In a time when statehouses are banning books, criminalizing healthcare, and gerrymandering themselves into permanent control, one flipped seat can block an avalanche.

This isn’t a “good news” section. This is the truth. Trump is trying to drag this country backward. But not everyone is going with him. Resistance doesn’t always come with huge protests. Sometimes it’s a historic win in a state senate race not enough people were watching. Sometimes it’s one vote that blocks a supermajority. One judge who won’t cave. One artist who walks away.

And that’s how we win this, not all at once, but moment by moment, until the tide turns for good. It will be the new year in just a little over a day. That’s when the real work begins. We’ve got a country to save. Enjoy what’s left of the holiday season. Rest if you can. And get ready for the fight ahead.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather

P.S. If you’ve made it this far, chances are we see things the same way. You can make a difference right now by subscribing to my Substack. There is a free option and the option to help me reach a wider audience with a $5/month paid subscription. Your support allows me to cover more ground and keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in our country.