Trump thinks the Moon is part of Mars

Post Reply New Topic

If you want to get all grammar-geek about it, the construction "doing Mars" doesn't make much sense either; but we all know what he means by it. He might elide words here and there a bit more than most folks, but it's hardly a rare way to speak, especially for politicians of all flavours when they're after an off-the-cuff soundbite. Folks who interpreted it literally will find out soon enough if they use the internet at all, and a correction wouldn't change his opponents' opinion about anything in the slightest.

Even as a left-leaning person, I find the constant nit-picking for little ambiguities in Trump's language incredibly childish and insubstantial. They might be fascinating to linguists as examples of the kind of speech production errors that anyone can make, but that's all most of these stories ever are.

Hopefully, folks won't go on about it for as long as they have Neil Armstrong's allegedly fluffed line when he stepped out of the Eagle!

I don't have much... anything... good to say about the man, but I think he just has trouble with his phrasing. I doubt he actually thought the moon was part of Mars.

One would think that's what he SHOULD have meant, but the tweet began with: "For all of the money we are spending, NASA should NOT be talking about going to the Moon - We did that 50 years ago." This makes the tweet confusing.

Unlike Trump, most politicians are much more careful with their wording and don't say just any old disorganized covfefe that happens to pop into their heads. IMO, a POTUS should be much more careful with wording than Trump is. Do you not agree?

Care with words should be a priority for any political figure, IMHO. It takes a combination of the study of rhetoric, fluent linguistic ability, and great concentration to lie convincingly to a large audience when under pressure; to make ambiguous policy statements seem like tangible promises; to abuse one's opponents while maintaining plausible deniability; to give the appearance of empathising with demographic groups who you couldn't give a s**t about; to appear to be answering a question while not actually saying anything of substance, etc... I'd be much less anxious all the time about the shenanigans that politicians get up to if only they'd learn to conceal them better!

Be careful what you wish for!

Politicians should be judged primarily by what they DO, not by what they say.

However, politicians who talk carelessly are a huge liability, especially for a job like the POTUS, given how a misunderstanding between heads of state could easily trigger World War III.

I agree. But I also see the problem being that most politicians have had a lifelong career at perfecting being a politician, whereas trump didn't become one until he was going into his 70's.

If scientists worked out that solar panels orbiting the earth would solve the world's energy problems he'd come up a story like they would cause cancer and the money is needed to finish the never ending Mexican wall which would include underwater wall to prevent Mexicans scuba diving across into California

That's scary in and of itself. POTUS should not be an entry-level job. Whatever else he may or may not be, Trump is just plain unqualified to be President, IMO. He may be constitutionally qualified, but certainly not qualified in terms of experience.

Be that as it may he is the president. People can either accept that, or they can be in hysterics over it 24/7.

True. Besides, important figures should always aim to give a good picture of their company/country/any cause they're fighting for in order to get better results. He may have not been a politican for long, but he's been a businessman, right? He should've learned this through business but no, Trump doesn't seem to be good at that despite his background.

It's an indictment on the US population who were sold on MAGA slogans and conspiracies about Hillary Clinton and fell for it.

Would you like to see all Trump voters and supporters put in jail?

Only if they start commiting genocide.

Trump isn't as great a businessman as people think. He inherited most of his wealth from his father and many of his businesses went bankrupt because of him. He's just good at cheating the system is all.

Trump can also receive smiles over the phone.