Trump’s Green Re-election Strategy Takes Shape

President Trump’s reelection strategy on energy and environment issues is starting to come into focus, with an emphasis on domestic energy production and making the case, in his mind at least, that the environment has become cleaner since he’s taken office.

Trump is planning to officially launch his 2020 campaign Tuesday for a second term, now that two dozen Democrats are vying for the chance to run against him.

In recent appearances and statements, Trump has put together a message for voters that energy production is growing, the economy is booming, and the United States has “the cleanest air” and “the cleanest water,” and it’s all because of his policies during the last two years.

Meanwhile, Trump’s Democratic opponents are pursuing the Green New Deal, which would usher in socialism and unreliable energy sources such as wind, the president has argued.

“Thanks to President Donald Trump, the American energy revolution is now underway,” Sarah Matthews, deputy press secretary for the Trump reelection campaign, told E&E News when asked to summarize his 2020 platform.

“While Democrats continue to rally around the radical Green New Deal, the president’s reelection campaign will highlight his record of unquestionable success in unleashing American energy while being good stewards of the environment,” Matthews said.

Trump himself hasn’t been afraid to take credit for the state of the fossil fuel industry in recent appearances and say his policies — including aggressively rolling back environmental protections and trying to encourage exports — are the reason.

“Since the election, we created nearly 6 million jobs, including 57,000 new oil and gas pipeline construction jobs. And in 2018 alone, America added over 150,000 brand-new energy jobs,” Trump said last month during an event to mark the beginning of operations at the Cameron liquefied natural gas export plant in Louisiana.

“The previous administration tried to put America’s vast energy resources under lock and key,” he said. “‘We don’t want energy.’ I don’t know what they were thinking. And they tried to put energy producers out of business. But no more.”

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