Former Vice President Al Gore is once again under fire for incendiary rhetoric, this time accusing President Donald Trump of waging a “jihad” against the renewable energy transition. The comment, published Wednesday by Axios, comes just days after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated — and at a time when many are calling for political figures to tone down their language.
“If you look at it on a global basis, we get a distortion field here in the U.S. now with Trump’s jihad against the sustainability transition,” Gore said in the interview, claiming the 45th president is “more loaded for bear this time around” in opposing green energy efforts than he was during his first term.
While Gore’s quote did not reference Kirk directly, the timing and terminology sparked swift backlash. Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA and a major proponent of U.S. energy independence, was gunned down last week during a college event in Utah — an assassination prosecutors say was politically motivated.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and other Republican leaders have since urged public figures to “turn the temperature down” and avoid language that could incite violence. Gore’s use of the word “jihad,” a term often associated with terrorism, is already drawing accusations of hypocrisy from critics who say Democrats routinely blame Republicans for “dangerous rhetoric” while overlooking their own.
This isn’t Gore’s first time leaning into comparisons many call inflammatory. In April, he likened the Trump administration to Nazi Germany, while trying to preemptively distance himself from that very comparison.
“I understand very well why it is wrong to compare Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich to any other movement,” Gore said. “It was uniquely evil, full stop. I get it. But there are important lessons from the history of that emergent evil.”
Gore then quoted philosopher Theodor Adorno and claimed that the Trump White House, like the Nazis, was “attacking the very heart of the distinction between true and false.”
In 2022, Gore compared Americans skeptical of extreme climate change policy to the law enforcement officers who failed to stop the Uvalde, Texas school shooter. “Climate deniers are really in some ways similar to all of those almost 400 law enforcement officers… while the children were being massacred,” Gore said at the time.
Critics argue that Gore’s latest remarks prove Democrats are not serious about de-escalating political tensions — particularly when such statements are allowed to circulate largely unchallenged in the press.
President Trump has consistently advocated for American energy dominance, rolling back radical climate rules, slashing funding for foreign green initiatives, and restoring fossil fuel projects that create jobs. His second-term agenda includes further investing in nuclear, oil, gas, and clean coal while rejecting what he calls the “Green New Deal cult.”
While Trump continues to push for affordable, domestic energy and American jobs, Gore and his allies remain focused on sweeping global climate mandates — with increasingly hostile words for anyone who disagrees.
The post Al Gore Accuses Trump of Waging ‘Jihad’ Against Clean Energy as Rhetoric Heats Up After Kirk Assassination appeared first on Real News Now.
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