Trump's Hate Of "Green New Deal" Will Especially Hurt Red States That Voted For Him

The "Big Beautiful Bill" is anything but for the clean
energy industry in the United States.

 Donald Trump hates so called "green energy," which is produced by sources other that fossil fuel, such as wind and solar. He calls that type of thing the "Green New Scam."

He is reversing, or plans to reverse, subsidies to states for that type of project. 

The green energy cutbacks are largely contained in the (ugh!) "One Big Beautiful Bill" that passed the House last past week. The bill has moved on  to the Senate, where it's their problem, at least for now. 

As it stands now, billions of dollars in tax incentives within former President Joe Biden's signature Inflation Reduction Act are on the chopping block. 

The bill would also end a tax credit for up to $7,500 for the purchase of an electric vehicle. That would of course slow the shift to EVs. \\slow the shift to EVs.

The "Big Beautiful Bill" would also end subsidies and tax breaks for the clean energy industry. 

Trouble is, most of green money is flowing to Red States that voted for Trump. 

Republican Congress creature who love Trump face a dilemma.  All this is going to hurt the very people they represent. 

Per Washington Post:

"Republican senators now must grapple with the reality behind the slogan: Cutting hundreds of billions of dollars of clean energy subsides that are flowing to their own states."

'The majority of the government spending is creating jobs and manufacturing capacity in red states,' said Jason Bordoff, the founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, 'So this puts Republicans, generally and now in the Senate, in the position of having to choose whether to support the party line or maintain support for government programs that are creating a lot of economic activity in the states."

Given the recent track record of Republic Congress Creatures, I'd bet on fealty to Trump instead of what their constituents want.  That's particularly true of House Republicans, whose districts are so gerrymandered that they'll get voted in no matter what. After all, some hard core MAGAs in these districts love Trump so much they'll vote against their own interests every time.

For Senators, it's more complicated.  They represent entire states. Even the hard core red states aren't exclusively Republican.  They can still lose if Democrats turn out in force and a percentage of Republicans get disillusioned by the Trump policies and by extension their senators. 

And there will be activism. Forces are gathering against legislation to kill green energy programs. As Washington Post reports in their article about this:

"Climate advocates are mobilizing against the legislation, warning the it threatens to cede the United States' leadership role in global efforts to combat climate change. They plan to pressure Republican senators by citing home-state economic damage."

Now that the "One Big Beautiful Bill" (I still have trouble writing that without getting the dry heaves) is now in the Senate, it's probably in for a rough ride. Partly for the green energy cutbacks and certainly for a myriad of other reasons.

As WaPo says, "To pass it, Trump will  need votes from Senate Republicans who have championed the green subsidies in their home states."

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) one of the most vulnerable senators up for re-election next year, suggested....that he would push for a slower phaseout of the clean energy subsidies. An immediate phaseout, he said, would 'have a chilling effect" on 'future investments in the domestic energy sector. 

In Tillis' home state of North Carolina, the law has helped attract $23 billion in investment, according to data compiled by Atlas Public Policy and Utah State University. Forty-seven new facilities in the state - including a massive Toyota battery plant - could create about 20,000 new jobs, the data shows."

Of course, I'm not sure how a "slower phase out" would help much since the subsidies would still disappear, making investors less likely to risk their money in United States green energy. 

Tillis is probably trying to have it both ways. Like virtually all Republicans he's afraid of Donald Trump's wrath, yet he knows Trump's policies hurt the economy. Just speculation here, but perhaps Tillis is trying to buy time until Trump is no longer a problem so that the money flowing into his state through green energy subsidies will continue. 

Trump's ideas on clean energy indeed might also be shooting himself in the economic foot. Washington Post again: 

"Factories that would manufacture solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and other crucial pieces of America's energy future as envisioned by former president Joe Biden and Democrats are on the chopping block."

So, other countries will take over, reaping the economic benefits instead of the United States.  Clean industries in other nations probably shouldn't worry too much about Trump's tariff spree.   These overseas clean energy companies will just find other places to sell their wares,  After all, there's plenty of markets for solar panels, turbines, batteries in Europe, Asia, Africa and a host of other places.

Fossil fuel companies, of course, love the "Big Beautiful Bill."  The American Petroleum Institute said in a statement it will "help restore American energy dominance."

The Institute shouldn't be too sure about that. 

Over the past few decades, old, dirty coal fired plants have been decommissioned. If we're so bent on returning to fossil fuel and getting rid of clean energy, it won't be so easy to develop that infrastructure.

It's hard and takes years to build new coal and gas plants. Local opposition is sure to slow down any proposals to build them. Plus, it takes forever to get the supplies, engineers and construction workers to actually construct these things. 

Meanwhile, more than 80 percent of the electricity added to the power grid in 2024 came from solar panels and industrial batteries that store the energy they capture says the U.S. Energy Information Administration. 

There appears to be public support for at least some clean energy initiatives that are under the chopping block under the "Big Beautiful Bill."

A clear majority of Americans support the tax credits for electric vehicles.  Republicans obviously are less enthusiastic about the idea. But still, a Yale Program on Climate Change Communication poll found 42 percent of liberal or moderate Republican and 28 percent of conservative Republicans support the tax rebates for EVs.

We haven't even talked about how the Big Beautiful Bill advances Trump's efforts thwart efforts to fight climate change.  Which is itself a danger both to lives and the economy of the United States and the world. The increasingly extreme weather climate change has wrought is a drag on the economy, one that will continue to get worse.

Think about the disruption to industry as factories, offices and such are destroyed by giant storms, or at least shut down temporarily due to evacuations, power cuts and transportation disruptions. 

In addition to battling climate change, clean energy provisions are at least causing some benefits to employment and the economy in general for the population at large. The Big Beautiful Bill funnels money from a variety of worthwhile programs in favor of giving more money to a cadre of billionaires and millionaires, who certainly don't need it. 

It's a shameless transfer of money and power from most of us to a few very rich people. Of course, the Republicans who support this will lie their way through this, trying to convince the public - some successfully - that up is down and down is up. 

Such is the world we apparently live in these days.