In case you missed it, Jay Inslee, the former governor and congressman from Washington, appeared on the Democrats’ Daily Blueprint today to call out Donald Trump’s reckless energy agenda, which is driving up costs for American consumers. Inslee, a member of the DNC People’s Cabinet who also leads “The Accountability Project” at Climate Power, discussed how the Trump administration’s attacks on clean energy are hurting farmers and families nationwide who rely on solar and wind power to bring down their monthly electricity bills.

WATCH

You can find highlights from the conversation below: 

On the self-inflicted energy crisis and the “Republican Rate Hike”:

Governor Inslee: “Unfortunately, Americans can look forward to higher electrical bills as a direct result of shooting ourselves in the foot with this ridiculously backward-looking effort to prevent Americans from getting cheaper and cleaner energy and electricity — and that’s what it’s done. It’s not a shock. All of the economists who evaluated [Trump’s agenda] do believe that it’s going to lead to higher electrical bills, in the [range of] hundreds of dollars per family in the upcoming years. …

“The cheapest electricity in America today is clean energy. It’s a blessing for us. We’re so technologically adept in this country. We’ve adopted technologies to give us cleaner electricity for cheaper prices, and that’s primarily solar, and wind energy, and advanced battery storage. These technologies, in 95% of the places in America, are cheaper than coal. So when you basically try to outlaw cheap electricity and incentivize more expensive electricity, which is coal, you’re going to get higher electrical prices. And that’s the fact that is happening already and will continue to happen.”

On Trump’s attacks on clean energy and the environment that hurt communities in Republican districts:

Governor Inslee: “[Trump] is so full of baloney when he talks about energy dominance. If he wants energy dominance, if he wants America to excel and dominate the world economy, why would you possibly take the stars on your team and sit them on the bench? You know, you got Michael Jordan and Lebron James of the energy world, which is solar and wind, and Steph Curry in advanced battery, and you put them on the bench, is what he’s done on all these new sources of clean energy. …

“If you want to be dominant, you put in your best team. And right now, these technologies are cheapest, more effective, [and] can be brought online faster. … 

“What Trump is doing is giving these markets to China. I mean, he’s shipping these jobs that could be in Georgia and North Carolina and Washington State, and he’s shipping them to China because he’s allowing them to become a dominant player in some of these emerging industries. It really is sort of anti-American and very small-minded.”

On his work as the head of ClimatePower’s “The Accountability Project”:

Governor Inslee: “I’m an old trial lawyer and one of the sayings is, ‘When you’ve got a strong case and the facts on your side, just present the facts to the jury. When you don’t have facts, just pound the table.’ We actually aren’t just pounding the table, we’re just presenting the facts to people so they can make informed decisions. And we’re doing that in podcasts, and social media, and interactive media all that we can, as well as traditional media, to give people the facts of what is going on. It’s really important, too, that this accountability extends not just to Donald Trump, but to his minions, to the people who are doing his work and his bidding.”