Al Gore warns about Trump's 'jihad' of clean energy transition

Former Vice President Al Gore accused President Donald Trump in a new interview of launching a "jihad" against the renewable energy transition.

In an interview with Axios, Gore said Trump was more "loaded for bear this time around" in his opposition to clean energy compared to his first presidential term. He added that outside forces pushing back against Trump have also grown stronger, particularly outside the U.S.

"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. It's unclear when Gore made the remarks but Axios published the comments on Wednesday.

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Former Vice President Al Gore accused President Donald Trump of pushing a "jihad" against renewable energy. (Maxim Shemetov/Reuters; Andrew Matthews/Reuters )

Gore’s published use of the word "jihad" comes after Turning Point USA founder and conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated last week. Kirk’s death reignited conversations over the role political rhetoric plays in violence and motivated calls to "turn the temperature down" in politics by leaders like House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.

Gore is no stranger to using controversial rhetoric against his political opponents. In April, he compared the Trump administration to Nazi Germany.

"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 went on to cite a German philosopher’s "moral autopsy" of Hitler’s Third Reich following the end of World War II.

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Former Vice President Al Gore used controversial rhetoric against President Donald Trump and climate change critics in the past. (Paul Marotta/Getty Images)

"[Theodor Adorno] described how the Nazis, and I quote again, ‘attacked the very heart of the distinction between true and false.’ End quote. The Trump administration is insisting on trying to create their own preferred version of reality," Gore said.

In 2022, Gore compared climate change deniers to law enforcement officers who failed to act during the mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

"Climate deniers are really in some ways similar to all of those almost 400 law enforcement officers in Uvalde, Texas, who were waiting outside an unlocked door while the children were being massacred," Gore said.

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Former Vice President Al Gore. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg)

He added, "And confronted with this global emergency, what we're doing with our inaction and failing to walk through the door and stop the killing is not typical of what we are capable of as human beings. We do have the solutions, and I think these extreme events that are getting steadily worse and more severe are really beginning to change minds."

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Fox News Digital reached out to Gore and the White House for comment.