People who dislike this situation need to stop taking the Trump administration's (and allies') statements at face value, like David Harkey does in the article, and stop calling them crazy. Either way, they are playing you and distracting you, and you are inadvertently acting as their messengers.

Using the universal analytical tool cui bono (more powerful than an LLM) and their own explicit words, there's a consistent, non-crazy strategy: Support the fossil fuel industry in every way possible (which appeals to some people; I'm not writing a critique; you should understand this.):

  * Destroy or acquire national competitors: Venezuala, Iran,
    even Nigeria

  * Buy off domestic competitors: using tax dollars to bribe
    renewable energy developments to stop

  * A million other policy and political actions, major and
    and minor; even opposing bike lanes.

(If you doubt it, see if my hypothesis predicts future events.)