I shared with my neighbor Swamp Rabbit the news that Donald Trump’s lackeys had halted construction of a nearly completed $4 billion wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island. Inquiring minds want to know: Why is Trump so hot to prop up fossil fuel peddlers instead of helping the country transition to cleaner energy?

“He’s giving his people what they want,” Swamp Rabbit said. “The MAGATs, that is. They want to burn fossil fuels.”

Swamp Rabbit was still angry about Jersey Shore residents — right-wingers, mostly — who supported the Trump administration’s successful effort to discourage installation of offshore wind turbines that could power hundreds of thousands of homes. They complained that turbines would spoil their view of the horizon.

“And that wind turbines kill whales,” I said. “It’s hard to tell how many of them are stupid enough to really believe that lie, but they ran with it. They told their pro-wind governor to f#%* off.”

Swamp Rabbit ruminated for a minute. “Maybe we’re too angry,” he said. “Even them MAGAts must know by now that fossil fuels are fouling up the air and water and making the climate go crazy. Maybe they could talk sense to their boss man.”

I scowled at him and kicked one of his empty beer cans. “Talk sense? This guy is a convicted rapist who sucks up to dictators. He tried to pull off a coup d’etat, was impeached twice, betrayed our closest allies and took steps to convert the White House into another Mar-a-logo, except even more tacky.”

I told him the MAGAts have even less sense than their grifter-in-chief, otherwise they wouldn’t have elected him. They might not know that Trump’s hatred of wind turbines (he called them “stupid and ugly windmills”) dates to when authorities refused to take down turbines that obstructed the view at his golf course in Scotland. But they know he behaves like a 12-year-old bully in an old man’s body, and they love him for it.

It’s worth noting that MAGAts at the Jersey Shore were strongly encouraged to drink the Kool-Ade by fossil fuel influencers and Republican stooges like Congressman Jeff Van Drew, a former wind power advocate — he was co-chair of the offshore wind caucus in Congress — who became a rabid foe of offshore wind farms around the same time he started bowing to Trump.

Swamp Rabbit paused to ruminate again. “I bet them seashore MAGAts are gonna regret being so close-minded later on when their electricity rates go through the roof and they ain’t got renewable energy to fall back on.”

“MAGAts always follow Trump’s lead,” I replied. “When the shit hits the fan, they blame the libs.”

Footnote: The war between offshore wind advocates and dirty-fuel fans keeps heating up. This week a high-powered right-wing law firm pressured Brown University to “retract research that details links between the fossil fuel industry and anti-wind groups.” The firm represents Green Oceans, a group that’s trying to kill the Rhode Island project mentioned above. Researchers at Brown have called Green Oceans part of “a fossil-fuel-funded disinformation network.”

“I don’t know, maybe the Brownies got it all wrong,” Swamp Rabbit joked. “Maybe them MAGAts just want to save the whales.”