Day 69: The 7 Dumbest Moments of the Trump Presidency...The Basement Responds

What passes for thought Thursday

On Thursdays, I like to kick back, take it all in, and think about what issues are out there. Past weeks I have taken on such topics as "What's Wrong with the song, Mr. Bojangles" ,"My Adventures with Copyright", and the Situationists.

Today, I face my most daunting challenge. An attempt to defend seven Trump moments that were highlighted by the Young Turks.

The Young Turk Network (TYT)  "is the largest online news and talk network for the connected generation." Cenk Uygur started a radio show on Sirius Radio in 2002.  "It has since evolved into  a 24-hour channel on YouTube TV and the network includes more than a dozen owned and operated and partner shows such as The Young Turks, #NoFilter, The Damage Report, Happy Half Hour, TYT Sports, TYT Interviews, TYT Politics, TYT Investigates, and more."

Here is how they literally (we'll get back to that word) describe themselves.

What does The Young Turks mean? Why is the show named The Young Turks?

The selection of the name The Young Turks reflects the definition provided in American Heritage Dictionary.

Young Turk (n.)

Young, progressive or insurgent member of an institution, movement or political party.

Young person who rebels against authority or societal expectations.

The selection of this name does not refer to any specific, historical incarnation of The Young Turks.

In other words, they are a left wing alternative to Fox News, Daily Caller, Red State et al. And not The Young Turks whose post revolutionary nationalist government was complicit with the Armenian Genocide during the WW1.

Odd name choice for Cenk, a Turk, whose family immigrated to the US when he was 8.

TYT's choices for Trump's Dumbest Moment

1. 

The Story:

On August 26, 2019 Axios reported that - During one hurricane briefing at the White House, Trump said, "I got it. I got it. Why don't we nuke them?" according to one source who was there. "They start forming off the coast of Africa, as they're moving across the Atlantic, we drop a bomb inside the eye of the hurricane and it disrupts it. Why can't we do that?" the source added, paraphrasing the president's remarks.

President's Reaction:

Basement Take:

Let's assume for a moment that the President really did say what was reported. If he said it, he is not the first person to suggest using nuclear energy to change the climate. According to a Wired Magazine article, since the nuclear age began the following climate altering ideas have been suggested for atomic bombs.

1. In the 1945 book, The Almighty Atom, The Real Story of Atomic Power, the author John Joseph Oneil suggested using atomic weapons to melt the polar ice caps, gifting “the entire world a moister, warmer climate.”

2. Julian Huxley, brother of novelist Aldous Huxley and a renowned biologist  suggested at one point that nuclear weapons could be used to flood the Sahara, allowing the arid landscape to “blossom.” He argued in favor of “atomic dynamite” for “landscaping the earth.”

3. World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker, "looked to Antarctica, suggesting nuclear weapons could help miners and businesses access the valuable minerals locked deep under ice."

4. In 1959  Jack Reed, a meteorologist, submitted his concept of dropping a nuclear bomb into a hurricane. “It appears that a megaton explosion in the eye would engulf and entrain a large quantity of this hot ‘eye’ air and carry it out of the storm into the stratosphere.”

None of the "concepts" have ever been tested due to the incredible danger of radiation and greater sophistication in the scientific community about the unforeseen consequences of these "thought experiments."

Conclusion:

"I typically get those questions (about nuking hurricanes) and I get an uptick on ’em when there’s an active tropical cyclone,” explains Dennis Feltgen of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration  “I must get that question, maybe, depending on the year, anywhere from up to two dozen a year.”

This falls into the category of the unfiltered Trump just saying stuff that some other people think but are embarrassed to say it out loud.

It's dumb. 

2.

The Story:

On July 4, 2019 during his tribute to the army, President Trump said: “In June of 1775, the Continental Congress created a unified army out of the revolutionary forces encamped around Boston and New York...Our army manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do, and at Fort McHenry, under the rockets’ red glare, it had nothing but victory.”

President's Reaction:

"We had a lot of rain. I stood in the rain. The teleprompter went out. It kept going on, and then at the end, it just went out. It went kaput!"

Basement Take: I know that guy is not an historian but I can't believe that he thinks the Continental Army had an Air Corps. It seems more likely that, in fact, the teleprompter went out. I have no idea what he was supposed to say. It sounds like he was riffing on the National Anthem...ramparts, Fort McHenry, rocket's red glare. Conflating the Revolutionary War with the War of 1812. But the airports..

Conclusion: This is a case of the anti-Trump press piling on.

Bumbling but not dumb.

3.

 The Story:

During a 2017 campaign style rally in Phoenix, the President said. “We’ve ended the war on beautiful, clean coal,” he said. “It’s just been announced that a second, brand-new coal mine, where they’re going to take out clean coal — meaning, they’re taking out coal. They’re going to clean it— is opening in the state of Pennsylvania, the second one.”

President's Reaction:

I couldn't really found out what President Trump means by "clean coal." He says it a lot. He said it alot when he was campaigning and he has said it a lot since then.




Basement Take:

"Clean Coal" is not a Donald Trump invention.

1. U.S. Senate Bill 911 in April, 1987, defined clean coal technology as follows:
"The term clean coal technology means any technology...deployed at a new or existing facility which will achieve significant reductions in air emissions of sulfur dioxide or oxides of nitrogen associated with the utilization of coal in the generation of electricity."

2. The clean coal movement, pushed by Jimmy Carter in the 1970’s, emphasized coal as a source of reliable and efficient power. Carter’s policies sought to end US reliance on foreign oil. (Morning Consult,  April, 2016)

3. "Making good on campaign promises, the President Obama is throwing the full weight of his administration behind a moonshot effort to make coal the "clean" energy technology of choice" (Inside Climate News, February, 2010)

FactCheck tries to clear up what is behind the President's catch phrase. “Clean coal turns out to mean largely whatever one wants it to mean,” says Edward S. Rubin, a professor of mechanical engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University" in the November 2018 article.

According to Rubin, Trump could be thinking of coal cleaning or coal washing, an older technology that removes impurities, such as non-combustible mineral matter and sulfur, from coal. This can cut down on coal ash pollution, and slightly reduce sulfur dioxide emissions. But this processing hardly makes coal clean.

“Today, no one really thinks of coal cleaning as a significant clean coal technology,” said Rubin.

Conclusion:

The concept of "clean coal" may be farfetched but it is not dumb. It would be a boon to both the environment and the economy if there were a way to burn coal that did not pollute.

However, the President implies that the coal itself, prior to processing is "clean," sounds at least ill-informed and uncurious to be sure.

Lazy and dumb.

4.    

The Story: 

Nov. 23, 2017: "With the Air Force, we're ordering a lot of planes, in particular the F-35 fighter jet, which is, you know, almost like an invisible fighter. I was asking the Air Force guys, I said, how good is this plane? They said, well, sir, you can't see it. I said, yeah, but in a fight — you know, a fight — like I watch in the movies — they fight, they're fighting. How good is this? They say, well, it wins every time because the enemy cannot see it. Even if it's right next to it, it can't see it.

President's Reaction:

The President has on a number of occasions made similar comments. There are at least 7 instances where the he has said that the F-35 Stealth Fighters are invisible. The most recent comments I could find were from July, 2018. If the President thought the planes were "literally" invisible back then, I'm sure his opinion must have changed during this June, 12, 2019 flyover of the White House.





Basement Take: C'mon. I know that the Young Turks hate Trump. I agree that the man is inarticulate but he is not "moronic." The worst you can say about this one is that he misuses the word "literally," a common problem these days.

Conclusion:

More piling on. Not dumb.

5. 

The Story:

In September 2017, President Trump began a speech to the National Association of Manufacturers with the following. "I'd like to begin by sending our thoughts and prayers to the people of Puerto Rico, who have been struck by storms of historic and catastrophic severity. We've undertaken a massive federal mobilization to assist Puerto Rico. The response and recovery effort probably has never been seen for something like this, This is an island surrounded by water, big water, ocean water."

President's Reaction:

The President is no fan of Puerto Rico. He has called it “one of the most corrupt places on earth.” He said that "The pols are grossly incompetent, spend the money foolishly or corruptly, & only take from USA." And he tweeted,  'Cannot continue to hurt our Farmers and States with these massive payments...and so little appreciation!”

He has history with Puerto Rico. His company took over a struggling golf club resort in 2008. The resort filed for bankruptcy for 2013 while the Trump Organization managed the property.

Basement Take:

Do the Young Turks et al think that the President did not know that Puerto Rico is an island? Or that it is situated between the Atlantic and Caribbean Oceans? Or that 'big water' sound juvenile? I agree that the  'big water' comment is risible. I also believe that the President doesn't like to think that Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States. But I think he knows that it is.

Conclusion:

Understandable anger at Trump's hurricane response. Not dumb.

6. 

The Story:

Before the National Republican Congressional Committee' in April, 2019 the President said. “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."

President's Reaction:

December, 2019, the President pressed his case against windmills before a conservative student group in Palm Beach.

1.   And if you own a house within vision of some of these monsters, your house is worth 50 percent of the price.  They’re noisy.

2.  They kill the birds.  You want to see a bird graveyard?  You just go.  Take a look.  A bird graveyard.  Go under a windmill someday.  You’ll see more birds than you’ve ever seen ever in your life.  (Laughter.)

3.  I’ve seen the most beautiful fields, farms, fields — most gorgeous things you’ve ever seen, and then you have these ugly things going up.

Change in home devaluation. No talk about cancer.

Basement Take:

No brainer. Trump for personal reasons (his golf course in Scotland has a wind farm nearby) and political (favors fossil fuels over wind and solar) has, you'll pardon the expression bug up his ass about windmills. Windmills do kill hundreds of thousand of birds every year. And there are studies that show noise levels do affect nearby residents. But no studies to suggest that the noise of windmills causes cancer.

Conclusion:

Dumb.

7.    

The Story:

April 23, 2020. During a White House Task Force Briefing, the President said, "I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning? As you see, it gets in the lungs, it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that."

President's Reaction:

The following day, the President said, “I was asking a question sarcastically to reporters like you just to see what would happen."

Basement Take:

It didn't sound like sarcasm to me. The President kept turning to William Bryan, a Homeland Security official while he spoke. There are two options here.

1. He was doing the unfiltered Trump...top of his head..thing. (See #1)
2. He was being sarcastic to piss off the press.

Either way this is just wrong. And maybe dangerous but not as much as the anti-Trump media would have us believe. Still. Wrong.

Conclusion:

Dumb

Here is the scorecard for the Young Turk's dumb moments.

Dumb 4
Not Dumb 3

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