Trump’s latest love interest? The humble lump of coal.
The U.S. Department of Energy posted a bizarre thirst trap for a shiny chunk of coal on X, captioned: “She’s an icon. She’s a legend. And she is the moment✨”
This piece of coal porn, as New York magazine calls it, follows Trump’s effusive reveries on nonexistent “clean coal.” Trump has been known for strangely anthropomorphizing the energy industry and thirsting after “beautiful” coal, as compared to green energy, which he claims is “ugly as hell.”
The Trump administration has also flirted with bringing coal mining back to parts of Wyoming and Montana to revive the dying industry. It is unclear how far Trump is willing to take this plan, given that green energy outstrips coal mining in both cost and popularity and that gas-fired power generation is consistently cheaper than coal.
However, it may be the gender dynamics behind the social media post that are most eyebrow-raising.
The phrase “she is the moment” was first popularized by Wendy Williams, the fallen Wendy Williams Show host. She used it in a sound bite referring to the rapper Lil Kim, which has since gone viral on social media. This appears to be its first use by a U.S. government account.
Williams got many of her catchphrases from drag culture, including, it is said, “she is the moment”—hardly a comfortable place for the Trump administration to find their inspiration, given, for example, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s vow of “no more dudes in dresses.”
However, this coal has not, it seems, been changing its pronouns: the word coal traces its etymology to the Proto-Germanic kula, which is referred to with feminine pronouns (“die Kohle” in German). Trump, after all, is a (not-so-proud) German himself.
Fossil fuels, of course, also have their limits. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, recoverable coal reserves at currently producing mines will last for only another 20 years.
At some point, Trump’s marriage to coal will be on the rocks. He’ll have a hard time getting those vows renewed.
