The Trump Administration Is Posting Coal Porn

President Donald Trump has long been a friend of coal. On the campaign trail and in office, he has hyped up the nonexistent prospect of “clean coal” while repeatedly calling the pollution-heavy fuel source “beautiful” and decrying renewables like solar and wind as “ugly.” Now, it looks like Trump maybe wants to be more than just friends, since his administration is posting what can only be described as coal porn:

She's an icon
She's a legend
And she is the moment✨ pic.twitter.com/MDkIj71JZf

— U.S. Department of Energy (@ENERGY) July 31, 2025

The unusual post by the Department of Energy is not just a random bituminous thirst trap. The Trump administration has been taking a great many liberties with its official social-media pages and posting all kinds of weird stuff. And since Trump took office again in January, he has renewed his first-term push to support the coal industry.

The administration is looking to open up coal mining in an area of Wyoming and Montana that is larger than Delaware. He has signed executive orders to support the nation’s “beautiful” coal industry and has fantasized about coal-powered AI. Earlier this month, his tax bill significantly lowered royalty payments owed to the government for coal extractors leasing public land. And this week, the New York Times reports that the Trump administration invented a way for coal companies to avoid environmental regulations — by simply requesting an exemption from the Environmental Protection Agency. Fifteen coal plants successfully got exemptions. It took just one email.

Whether or not the Department of Energy can boost America’s thirst for coal consumption is another matter. Coal has been in decline ever since the fracking boom in the early aughts, and renewables remain far cheaper than coal. Charts of coal production show a collapse in the market during Trump’s time in office.