Thanks to Joan Hartman and Sigrid Wright for exposing the truth about President Trump’s energy policy (“Trump’s Energy Policy Isn’t About Security,” February 8, 2026). Forsaking clean energy and promoting coal, oil, and gas is not about national security; it’s about power and greed. Fossil fuel interests were the largest contributors in Trump’s re-election, and they are now reaping the rewards. Their profits are soaring from new subsidies, special tax breaks, removal of pollution controls, and new drilling opportunities, not only in vast public areas of the U.S. but also in stolen oil fields in other countries.
If national security were the chief concern, this administration would be promoting solar and wind energy. As the authors explain, oil resources are concentrated in multinational corporations, involve vast capital expenditures, and require military protection to maintain supply lines. The U.S. military spends at least $81 billion per year to protect oil supplies. It’s estimated that the U.S. has spent over $8 trillion since 1976 on these efforts. Fossil fuels drive conflict and geopolitical instability.
Green energy sources like solar and wind don’t just reduce carbon emissions. They dismantle the geopolitics of oil. They empower nations to clean their air and improve the health of their citizens by generating their own electricity, reducing their dependence on fossil fuel exporters, and eliminate one of the central motives behind many modern conflicts. No nation can assert hegemony over sunshine or wind.
Renewables also weaken the economic grip of authoritarian regimes that depend on the financial and political power of oil interests to support repression. A global transition to clean energy is not just an environmental imperative; it is a democratic and peace-building strategy.
