What Trump was talking about in his baffling rant about wind energy

President Trump’s political speeches are shaped by two tendencies. The first is that he pays attention to the lines that get the best response, and he’ll eventually narrow his rhetoric to highlight those zingers. The other is that he’ll follow whatever train of thought is headed out of the station, letting his speeches spiral well out into the countryside before he brings them back in.

Combine those — quick riffs stripped of most context and the tendency to springboard off in any direction — and you get a partial explanation for his speech to a pro-Trump youth group over the weekend.

The section of the speech that has attracted the most attention was this one.