Trump Calls Environmentalists 'Lunatics' and 'Thugs' Days After Purchasing His Tesla

Less than a week after purchasing a Tesla electric vehicle, President Donald Trump chastised environmentalists, labeling them "lunatics" and "thugs" in an impassioned Truth Social post.

The president declared the U.S. would be expanding its coal-fired power plants while taking a swipe at China.

"After years of being held captive by Environmental Extremists, Lunatics, Radicals, and Thugs, allowing other Countries, in particular China, to gain tremendous Economic advantage over us by opening up hundreds of all Coal Fire Power Plants," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post shared Monday afternoon. "I am authorizing my Administration to immediately begin producing Energy with BEAUTIFUL, CLEAN COAL."

Coal plants have been closing across America since the 2010s as companies have turned to environmentally friendly energy sources to combat climate change and limit air pollution.

Trump has remained steadfast in his endeavor to "drill, baby, drill." Lee Zeldin, the Trump administration's head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), rolled back more than 30 Biden-era green policies, including carbon limits on power plants, tailpipe emissions standards and protections for waterways, in what the agency labeled the "most consequential day of deregulation in U.S. history."

"We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion to drive down cost of living for American families, unleash American energy, bring auto jobs back to the U.S. and more," Zeldin stated.