Trump is wrong that windmills 'kill all the birds,' but Biden's nonexistent 'tiny, small windows' plan would help

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The final 2020 presidential debate spent a good deal of time on climate policy, and President Trump added some color with a few out-of-left-field claims. Democratic nominee Joe Biden's climate policy, Trump claimed, was really written by "AOC-plus-three," a reference to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y) and the three other congresswomen in "the Squad."

Under their collective plan, Trump said, "they want to take buildings down because they want to make bigger windows into smaller windows. As far as they're concerned, if you had no window it would be a lovely thing." He continued: "They want to knock down buildings and build new buildings with little, tiny, small widows, and many other things." Biden laughed and said Trump was making stuff up. The fastest-growing industries in America are solar and wind energy, he added, and Trump "thinks wind causes cancer, windmills." Trump did not dispute that, but he did tell Biden, "I know more about wind than you do. It's extremely expensive. Kills all the birds."

The Squad had some fun with Trump's bizarre claim about tiny windows, something not mentioned in their Green New Deal framework, much less Biden's proposals.

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But if Trump were really concerned about the fate of the birds, reducing the size of windows would be the best policy short of banning cats. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.