/https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5f924aaa8caa5a8a8efc6ee5/0x0.jpg?cropX1=0&cropX2=5575&cropY1=122&cropY2=3258&w=1200&resize=1200,675&ssl=1 "Why Does Trump Think Biden Wants To Shrink Everybody’s Windows?")
Topline
President Donald Trump insisted Thursday night during the final presidential debate that Democratic opponent Joe Biden is pining to knock down buildings and shrink their windows, a bizarre and inaccurate riff on Biden’s climate plan that has quickly turned into one of Trump’s go-to attack lines.
President Donald Trump answers a question during the second and final presidential debate at Belmont … [+]
Getty Images
Key Facts
In an exchange on climate policy, Trump claimed Biden’s platform involves forcing buildings to replace their existing windows with smaller ones, or ideally no windows at all, in the name of energy efficiency.
Trump has repeated this allegation for months, insisting Biden’s plan to rapidly reduce carbon emissions would require buildings to eliminate their windows.
Biden’s platform does not mention windows anywhere, nor does the Green New Deal, a climate proposal endorsed by many Democrats but not Biden.
Some researchers have suggested old buildings replace their windows with more energy efficient ones, but no climate activists seem to support eliminating them altogether.
Crucial Quote
“They want to take buildings down because they want to make bigger windows into smaller windows,” Trump said Thursday night. “As far as they’re concerned, if you had no window, it would be a lovely thing.”
Key Background
Trump has frequently attempted to tie Biden to the Green New Deal, a wide-ranging proposal involving renewable energy projects, infrastructure upgrades and economic stimulus. In its current form, the Green New Deal is a nonbinding statement rather than a concrete policy, so it’s difficult to assess its fiscal or economic impact, but Biden’s plan tends to be far narrower than most of the ideas floated by Green New Deal supporters. Either way, windows are probably safe from Biden and congressional Democrats’ wrath.
Tangent
Trump also claimed Biden’s climate plan would cost $100 trillion. This figure appears to be lifted from a conservative think tank’s estimate for the cost of the Green New Deal, though supporters of the Green New Deal have disputed that figure. Biden says his plan would cost far less.
Further Reading
Trump Keeps Talking About ‘Tiny Windows,’ And No One Knows What He Means (Curbed)
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