For a long time, Donald Trump derided electric vehicles as expensive and impractical. “Nobody wants them,” he charged, even though almost 6 million have sold in the U.S. since 2012.

Then Trump met Tesla mogul Elon Musk, who began pouring millions of dollars into pro-Trump campaign advertising — and now the former president says EVs are “great.”

“I’m for electric cars,” Trump said in August. “I have to be, you know, because Elon endorsed me very strongly.”

That was only one of several flip-flops Trump has executed as he scours the business community for campaign donations.

He once derided bitcoin as “based on thin air,” but after crypto investors donated to his campaign he proposed putting federal assets in a “strategic bitcoin stockpile.” As president, he tried to ban TikTok and flavored vapes; as a candidate, he’s backed down.

But there’s one issue on which Trump has remained an unshakable man of principle: his love for fossil fuels and his disdain for renewable energy, especially wind power.

“I hate wind,” he told oil and gas executives at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida as he asked for $1 billion in campaign contributions (“a deal,” he reportedly said).

Trump has long dismissed climate change as “a hoax” and attacked programs to promote renewable energy as “a scam.”

But he’s been especially passionate in his opposition to wind power, especially offshore wind farms.

That’s a problem for California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom has launched a massive effort to make the state carbon neutral by 2045, requiring far more reliance on wind, solar and other renewable forms of energy.

Trump’s animus toward wind energy — surpassing even his loathing for California — dates from a losing battle a decade ago, when Scotland’s regional government built an 11-turbine wind farm in Aberdeen Bay near one of his golf courses. Trump complained that the turbines would ruin golfers’ views and “turn Scotland into a Third World wasteland.”

He’s pursued his anti-wind obsession ever since with hurricane-force gusts of exaggeration, misinformation and bizarre untruths.

“It’s the most expensive energy there is,” he said last year. (Offshore wind farms are expensive to install, but the energy is cheap once they’re up and running.)

“They say the noise causes cancer,” he said in 2020. (There is no evidence that noise from wind turbines causes cancer.)

“Windmills are causing whales to die in numbers never seen before,” he charged last year. “The windmills are driving them crazy.” (The federal government investigated whale deaths off New England and found no evidence that they were caused by wind turbines. Most were caused by boat collisions or abandoned fishing nets.)

Those may sound like sour grapes from a disgruntled golf course owner, but if Trump becomes president they would be premises of his administration’s energy policy.

At his Mar-a-Lago meeting with the oil barons and a later beachfront rally in New Jersey, Trump promised he would stop federal support for wind power. “It’s going to end on Day One,” he said.

So what does that mean for California?

The state already gets about 6% of its electricity from land-based wind farms, but offshore wind is considered more promising over the long run, mostly because ocean winds are more constant and more powerful. (Trump doesn’t like land-based windmills either — in 2016, he said they make Palm Springs “look like a junkyard” — but there isn’t much he can do about turbines that are already in place.)

In July, the California Energy Commission approved a plan for wind development that centers on deepwater wind farms off Morro Bay and Humboldt Bay, supported by new port facilities in Long Beach and Los Angeles.

The wind farms, about 20 miles offshore, would be massive arrays of floating turbines roughly 70 stories tall. They will be designed to produce 25,000 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 25 million homes — about 13% of the state’s projected electricity consumption in 2045.

Proposition 4 on the November ballot, a $10-billion bond act, includes $475 million for wind-related port infrastructure.

But before any turbines are built, the projects will need a daunting array of permits from the federal government examining not only their environmental impact, but their effects on commercial fishing, navigation and national security.

A new administration can’t cancel leases, which are binding contracts that typically run for decades.

And it can’t easily shut down wind farms that are already up and running. (California’s offshore projects are a long way from that stage.)

But federal agencies can easily slow or delay the long permitting process, which typically takes three to five years, for projects that haven’t been built.

“There are a lot of ways they can slow the process down,” said Jim Lanard, president of Magellan Wind, an offshore development firm. “They can slow-walk the approvals. They can change the rules in midstream. … A project can suffer death by a thousand cuts.”

“Projects that haven’t been permitted will go through excruciatingly long review periods,” he predicted. California’s offshore projects are in that category.

Wind developers will face one more hazard in a Trump administration: The GOP candidate has promised to repeal President Biden’s landmark climate law, which includes big tax incentives to entice investors into financing these long-term projects. Repealing the law would be up to Congress, though — not the president.

Neither of those obstacles would necessarily halt all progress on California’s projects off Morro and Humboldt bays. Developers may need as long as five years to identify the sites where they want to build — a timeline that means they might not seek permits until the next presidential administration.

But the prospect of those policy changes has already injected new uncertainty into the marketplace.

“Several developers have already hit the pause button,” said Lanard, who has worked on California’s North Coast but is not involved in the current projects. “We’re not even going to talk to potential partners [for future projects] for the first two years of a Trump administration, until we know what the environment will be like.”

In other words, a Trump administration probably can’t stop work on renewable energy projects entirely, but will almost certainly slow it down.

Unless, that is, a green-energy equivalent of Elon Musk steps forward — a wind-power devotee who wants to contribute millions of dollars to the Trump campaign.

I asked Lanard if he knew of anyone who fit that description. He laughed.

A group of Catholics held a Rosary Rally outside the home of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Sunday, after the Democrat sparked backlash with a Doritos video that critics alleged made mockery of a sacred Christian rite. 

The “Rosary Rally for Religious Respect” was organized by CatholicVote. 

The rally comes in response to a controversial social media video in which Gov. Whitmer wore a Harris-Walz campaign hat and fed Doritos to a kneeling liberal podcaster named Liz Plank. 

The video followed a TikTok trend whereby someone, acting in a sensual manner, is fed by another person who stares uncomfortably into the camera while “Dilemma” by Nelly and Kelly Rowland plays in the background. 

MICHIGAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS CONDEMN WHITMER’S DORITOS VIDEO STUNT AS OFFENSIVE

The bizarre clip was intended to spotlight the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act that allocated nearly $53 billion towards efforts to bring semiconductor supply chains back to the U.S. But religious groups felt the clip made a mockery of the sacrament of Holy Communion. 

The Democratic governor apologized in response to the backlash, insisting the video was not meant to mock people of faith. 

FILE: Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer speaks during a news conference at Michigan State University on November 07, 2022 in East Lansing, Michigan.  (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Whitmer told FOX 2 that in more than 25 years of public service, “I would never do something to denigrate someone’s faith.” 

“I’ve used my platform to stand up for people’s right to hold and practice their personal religious beliefs,” Whitmer said. 

CNN AVOIDS ASKING GRETCHEN WHITMER ABOUT BIZARRE VIRAL DORITOS VIDEO

On Sunday, a group of around 100 Catholics recited the rosary in front of the governor’s residence near Moores River Drive in the Michigan capital of Lansing. 

The rally was organized by CatholicVote. (CatholicVote)

One of the participants told The Lansing State Journal she participated because of the governor’s “blasphemous and offensive video mocking the Holy Eucharist.” 

The Rosary Rally came in response to a video deemed offensive by Catholics.  (CatholicVote)

“It’s our most sacred sacrament,” she said. “So, we came to pray. We came to pray for her, and we are also praying out of mercy to pray for our Lord.” 

MICHIGAN GOV. WHITMER SAYS PEOPLE SHOULDN’T ‘GIVE A DAMN’ IF TAYLOR SWIFT IS FRIENDS WITH BRITTANY MAHOMES

CatholicVote National Political Director told Fox News Digital that Sunday’s rally was motivated by “deep concern over recent actions that undermine the dignity of the Eucharist and the rising tide of anti-Catholic sentiment promoted by some in the progressive left. 

“We find it profoundly troubling that our faith and its sacred beliefs are so openly mocked. As Catholics, we believe in the power of prayer, especially for our nation’s leaders. Our rally served as a call for the conversion of Governor Whitmer’s heart and mind, urging her to recognize and respect our religious convictions,” Church said. “We also hope this serves as a reminder to our elected officials that Catholics vote.” 

Republican State Rep. Josh Schriver of Oxford wrote a post on X promoting the “Rosary Rally for Religious Respect.” 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the governor’s office for a response to the rally. 

Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed to this report.  

For nearly a decade, Donald Trump has ruled the Republican Party with a power that rivals the moon and tides.

Lori Chavez-DeRemer is trying to fight that gravitational pull.

Two years ago, the former mayor of Happy Valley, a Portland suburb, scratched out a narrow victory in a Democratic-leaning Oregon congressional district, one of just 16 Republicans nationwide who prevailed on turf where Trump lost to Joe Biden.

Her reelection contest, among the costliest and most competitive races in the country, is also one of roughly two dozen that will determine control of the House.

Beyond that, the race in this purple patch of a deep-blue state will address two broader questions.

How much, in these fractious and deeply polarized times, are voters willing to look past party labels? And what room is left in the Republican Party for someone pledging less than 100% fealty to Trump and rejecting his orthodoxy on issues such as green energy and election denial?

A vote for her, Chavez-DeRemer insists, is not affirmation of the MAGA agenda, nor should voters see it as support for the House Republican leadership firmly lodged under Trump’s thumb.

“What they should see is that I’m going to be thoughtful,” the congresswoman said after touring a union apprenticeship center in Tualatin, another upscale Portland suburb.

“Being a conservative voice, but also being … forward-thinking on how we can get things done,” she went on, “rather than get caught up in just the rhetoric or the talk or the identity politics.”

Her Democratic rival, state Rep. Janelle Bynum, is having none of that.

“My opponent supports President Trump,” she said in the first of two testy debates the pair held last week. (Chavez-DeRemer has, in fact, endorsed his return to the White House.)

“Rubber-stamps his agenda,” Bynum said. “Rubber-stamps his ideas.”

The Democrat’s wall-to-wall TV advertising is blunter still, showing Chavez-DeRemer with glowering images of the ex-president, his mini-me running mate, JD Vance, and scenes from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

“Don’t believe MAGA extremists,” one spot ominously intones.

::

Oregon’s 5th Congressional District unfurls from the outskirts of Portland, rolling south and east through the forested Cascades, across table-flat farmland and high desert to the recreational mecca of Bend.

The registration is nearly evenly split among unaffiliated voters, who make up the largest chunk of the electorate, followed by Democrats and then Republicans.

For years, much of the region was represented by Kurt Schrader, one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress. He lost the 2022 primary to a left-wing opponent, Jamie McLeod-Skinner, who, in turn, lost the general election to Chavez-DeRemer.

Fearing a rematch, national Democrats spent millions of dollars in this year’s primary attacking McLeod-Skinner and promoting Bynum, whom they considered a stronger candidate. She has twice beaten Chavez-DeRemer in campaigns for the state Legislature — though, it should be noted, those contests were held in friendlier Democratic territory.

If Bynum wants to make this congressional race about Trump and national Republicans, Chavez-DeRemer is eager to focus on Democrats in Salem, the state capital. She blames one-party rule for surging crime and drug abuse, a growing homeless population and a housing affordability crisis that’s priced out more and more Oregonians.

Bynum, she asserted, has “almost a decade-long” record of failing to address those issues in the Legislature. Things would only get worse, Chavez-DeRemer said, if she went to Congress.

::

Chavez-DeRemer, 56, was born and raised in California’s Central Valley and graduated with a business degree from Fresno State University.

She and her husband, who met when she was 15, moved to Oregon more than two decades ago. Together, they founded a network of medical clinics and had twin daughters, now 30.

Chavez-DeRemer began her political career with election to the Happy Valley City Council in 2004 and served two terms as mayor, ending in 2018. It was a job, she tells audiences, where problem-solving was more important than partisanship, an approach she says she’s taken to Washington.

“This isn’t about one side or the other,” Chavez-DeRemer told a meeting of Clackamas County law enforcement officers, before they delivered their endorsement. “I’m willing to work with anybody.”

As a Latina, Chavez-DeRemer doesn’t look like most Republican members of Congress. Nor does she act or vote like them.

She was ranked the 29th most bipartisan House member in a survey done by Georgetown University; Chavez-DeRemer used that particular B-word or some variant a dozen times in an hourlong debate.

She is also the rare GOP lawmaker with strong support from organized labor. Several of the unions that backed her Democratic opponent two years ago endorsed Chavez-DeRemer this time.

Touring the plumbers and steamfitters apprentice program, she talked up the importance of organized labor, extolled the job-creating potential of green energy and mentioned her father was a proud member of the Teamsters. “We are union strong in Oregon,” Chavez-DeRemer said. “That’s important.”

As she entered one training area, where apprentices learn to install sinks and toilets, she paused and took a deep breath of air redolent with the scent of PVC glue and primer. “I love that smell,” she said with a broad smile.

“Smells like money,” said James King, the union’s assistant business manager.

Chavez-DeRemer turned on her heels and gave him a high-five.

::

The congresswoman doesn’t run from Trump. She supports his election in November, she says, because she believes the policies of the Biden administration have failed the country and she considers the former president a strong leader.

But Chavez-DeRemer doesn’t talk about him, either — unless someone brings him up first. “I’ve never even met President Trump,” she says.

In one debate, a viewer-submitted question asked whether Chavez-DeRemer believes Biden legitimately won the 2020 presidential race. “Yes, I do believe that,” she said crisply and without hesitation.

Endorsing the former president without embracing him is not the only fine line that Chavez-DeRemer is walking in a district almost certain to back Kamala Harris. She’s also attempting a tricky balance on the abortion issue.

Though Chavez-DeRemer praised the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe vs. Wade and previously indicated support for a ban starting at six weeks — before some women know they are pregnant — she said she would oppose any efforts to outlaw the procedure nationwide.

Most Oregonians favor legalized abortion, she noted, as do most Americans. “I will protect their access,” she promised.

In the end, the contest is likely to come down to trust — a word her opponent used in their second debate even more times than Chavez-DeRemer invoked bipartisanship.

“My opponent cannot be trusted,” Bynum said, whether the question dealt with taxes, housing, inflation or her willingness to break with Trump and fellow Republicans to work, as she constantly pledges, with Democrats.

Janelle Bynum, the Democratic candidate running to represent Oregon’s 5th Congressional District.

(Jenny Kane / Associated Press)

Chavez-DeRemer insists, repeatedly, that her pursuit of compromise is not calculated or a function of being a Republican running in a purple district, which leaves her no choice. It reflects, she said, her true self.

“Oh, I have lots of choices,” she said as she left the peace officers union headquarters. “And my choice is to work hard and work with my colleagues across the aisle.”

Voters will take her word, or not, and that will decide not just Chavez-DeRemer’s future, but how much of a shrinking middle ground still exists.