Trump partisans eager to exploit Biden’s circuitous words may wish first to review the large anthology of Trump classics. These include the president’s remarks to the National Republican Campaign Committee last April, when he free-associated about Democrats’ promotion of alternative energy: “Hillary wanted to put up wind. Wind. If you ― if you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations: Your house just went down 75 percent in value. And they say the noise causes cancer. You tell me that one, OK? ‘Rrrrr, rrrrr’ you know the thing that makes the ― it’s so noisy. And of course it’s like a graveyard for birds. If you love birds, you’d never want to walk under a windmill because it’s a very sad, sad sight. It’s like a cemetery.”

He continued in this vein, then his mind moved vagrantly to North Korea negotiations, before returning to windmills with a lurch, by invoking a hypothetical couple who can’t watch TV because there is no wind: ”No, wind’s not so good. And you know, you have no idea how expensive it is to make those things. They’re all made in China and Germany, but the way, just in case you’re ― we don’t make ’em here, essentially. We don’t make ’em here. And by the way, the carbon, and all those things flying up in the air, you know the carbon footprint? President Obama used to talk about the carbon footprint, and then he’d hop on Air Force One, a big 747 with very old engines, and he’d fly to Hawaii to play a round of golf. You tell me, the carbon footprint.”