The Wit and Wisdom of Donald John Trump

Donald Trump is no Winston Churchill. He does not, as Oliver Wendell Holmes urged, ” carve every word before you let it fall”. More often than not, when Trump speaks, as Rod Serling said, “You’re traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That’s the signpost up ahead – your next stop, the Twilight Zone!”


A collection of Trump’s curious remarks:

o Dec. 15, 2025: A Truth Social post by Trump on the Dec. 14 murder of actor and director Rob Reiner and his wife – “Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS. He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump Administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness, and with the Golden Age of America upon us, perhaps like never before. “

o. Dec. 1, 2025: A female reporter to Trump – Can you tell us what they were looking at with the MRI test? What part of the body? Trump: I have no idea. It was just an MRI. It wasn’t the brain because I took a cognitive test and aced it. I got a perfect mark, which you would be incapable of doing.”

Nov. 28, 2025: “Q: Do you plan to attend Sarah’s funeral?  (National Guard soldier killed in DC) TRUMP: I haven’t thought about it yet, but it’s certainly something I can conceive of. I love West Virginia. You know, I won West Virginia by one of the biggest margins of any president anywhere.”

o Nov. 17, 2025: Trump speaking at McDonald’s Impact Summit: “As an example, if you take me at 20 for one year, sleepy Joe Biden, you know what he was? Less than one for four years. And if they got elected, they would’ve been at minus 10 because people were moving out of the country in record numbers and welfare and other charges were increasing at levels that nobody has ever seen before. So, you would’ve had double and maybe 50%, maybe literally more than they’ve ever seen.”

“Why is the Gulf of Mexico called the Gulf of Mexico?” I said, “We’re changing the name.” And now it’s the Gulf of America. It has nothing to do with McDonald’s, but maybe it does because it’s very nice… We have 92% of the shoreline, they have 8%. I wouldn’t say I made a lot of friends in Mexico, but they still like me. Wasn’t that a good change? No, seriously, wasn’t that beautiful? “(Fact: The United States controls approximately 45% of the Gulf of Mexico; Mexico claims about 48%; Cuba claims 5%)

“And we got rid of the drip-drip water. We call it the drip-drip where drip-drips out of the sink. States with tremendous water, so much water, they have nothing but problems getting rid. They had restrictions on water. It comes down from heaven, right? They had restrictions on water. So you want to wash your hands or like me, I want to wash my hair. I lather up. Then I turn that and there’s no water. The water’s drip, they call it. “

o Nov. 13, 2025: “Christians and more, think of this, more than twice as likely foster care they’ll adopt the general population. They adopt to it so easily. When they get out, they adopt to it like it’s become second nature. It’s amazing.”

o Nov. 12, 2025: An interview with Fox host Laura Ingraham discussing Trump’s proposal to initiate 50 year mortgages: Q – Is a 50 year mortgage really a good idea? Trump: It’s not even a big deal. You go from 40 years to 50. Ingraham: It’s 30 years. Trump: It’s not even a big deal! You go from 40 to 50 years. And what it means is you pay something less. From 30, some people had a 40, and now they have a 50. You pay it over a long period of time. It’s not like a big factor!”

o Oct. 28, 2025: (1) Trump in a speech to US service members on the USS George Washington, an aircraft carrier stationed in Japan: “I’d like to be an Admiral. I always wanted to be an admiral, to be honest.” (2) “You know, we won the second election (2020) by a lot, so we had to just prove it by winning the third — by too big to rig, I called it. It was too big to rig.”  (3) “I ended eight wars in eight months,” including “Kosovo and Serbia, Egypt and Ethiopia.” The facts: The war between Kosovo and Serbia didn’t occur during his presidency, and there was no war between Egypt and Ethiopia for Trump to end. (4) “we have 92% of the shoreline” of the Gulf of Mexico. Fact: There is a  roughly even divide in Gulf coastline between Mexico and the US .

o October 27, 2025: Asked by a reporter about an CE raid on a Hyundai battery factory: Q – “Did I hear you right that you said you were opposed to the way that raid in Georgia was handled? Trump: I was opposed to getting them out and before they got out they were pretty well set but before they got out, I said they could stay. They’re going to be coming back.”

o October 19, 2025: “Trees fall down after a short period of time, about 18 months. They become really dry. They become really like a matchstick and they get up. You know, there’s no water pouring through and they become very, very, uh . They just explode. ” So much for the redwoods, I guess.

o Sept. 30, 2025: Sorry, this is a long one. Remarks by President Trump to 800 of the nation’s top military generals and admirals, along with their top enlisted advisors, flown from around the world to Marine Corps Base Quantico – “We were not respected with Biden. They looked at him falling downstairs every day. Every day, the guy is falling downstairs. He said, It’s not our President. We can’t have it. I’m very careful. You know, when I walk downstairs for, like, a month, stairs, like these stairs, I’m very—I walk very slowly. Nobody has to set a record. Just try not to fall, because it doesn’t work out well. A few of our presidents have fallen and it became a part of their legacy. We don’t want that. You walk nice and easy. You’re not having—you don’t have to set any record. Be cool. Be cool when you walk down, but don’t—don’t pop down the stairs. So one thing with Obama, I had zero respect for him as a President, but he would bop down those stairs. I’ve never seen it. Da-da, da-da, da-da, bop, bop, bop. He’d go down the stairs. Wouldn’t hold on. I said, It’s great. I don’t want to do it. I guess I could do it. But eventually, bad things are going to happen, and it only takes once. But he did a lousy job as president. A year ago, we were a dead country. We were dead. This country was going to hell.”

o Sept. 22, 2025: “Bobby wants to be very careful with what he says. I’m not so careful with what I say. Certain groups, the Amish, as an example – they have essentially no autism.” According to a study cited by the International Society of Autism Research, Preliminary data have identified the presence of ASD in the Amish community at a rate of approximately 1 in 271 children using standard ASD screening and diagnostic tools.

o Sept. 22, 2025: “They’re pumping, it looks like they’re pumping into a horse. You have a little child, a little fragile child, and you get a vat of 80 different vaccines, I guess. 80 different blends. And they pump it in.” In fact, a typical American child receives approximately 25-30 vaccine doses, with the exact number of shots depending on the specific combination vaccines used and whether annual Covid-19 or flu shots  are included. The recommended immunization schedule protects against around 16 serious and potentially deadly diseases from birth to adulthood. 

o “Tariffs are making us rich again. Richer than anybody ever thought was possible.” Economists overwhelmingly conclude that tariffs are not making the United States richer. While tariffs do generate revenue for the government, this is not a net gain for the country because the costs are primarily borne by domestic consumers and businesses through higher prices and reduced economic growth. 

o Sept. 5, 2025: Asked if he would trust new jobs numbers issued that day – “Well, we’re going to have to see what the numbers, I don’t know, they come out tomorrow. But the real numbers that I’m talking about are going to be whatever it is. But, uh, will be in a year from now when these monstrous huge beautiful places they’re palaces of genius and when they start opening up. You’re seeing, I think you’ll see job numbers that are absolutely incredible. Right now it’s a lot of construction numbers, but you’re going to see job numbers like our country has never seen before.”

o August 26, 2025: “Foreign nations are paying hundreds of billions of dollars (in tariffs) straight into our treasury. Numbers nobody has seen before. Many of those countries, just to sit at the table, are paying us hundreds of billions of dollars. Trillions of dollars is coming into our country. Trillions.” Foreign nations don’t pay tariffs directly to the U.S. government. American companies that import goods from foreign countries pay the tariffs to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. and then try to recoup the money by absorbing the cost or raising prices.

Trump on deploying the National Guard to Chicago: “I have the right to do anything I want to do. I’m the president of the United States.” Umm. Not exactly.

“There’s no inflation.” The inflation rate as of August. 25, 2025 was 2.7%, above the Fed’s 2% target.

o August 25, 2025: “”We are going to be doing numbers on the cost of drugs…I’m not talking 20% decrease. I’m talking 1,000%.”

o Aug. 25, 2025: “I gave Wes Moore (Governor of Maryland) a lot of money to fix his demolished bridge. I will now have to rethink that decision??” Trump had nothing to do with the appropriation of funds to rebuild the Baltimore bridge after a ship struck it. The appropriation was passed in 2024 as part of a continuing resolution President Biden signed into law.

o Aug. 20, 2025: “Crimea is massive — I would say, like, the size of Texas or something — in the middle of the ocean. And it’s gorgeous.” Crimea is roughly 1/25th the size of Texas and is a peninsula in the Black Sea that borders the Sea of Azov.

o Aug. 19, 2025: Although some want Netanyahu prosecuted on war crime charges, “he’s a war hero” Trump said. “He’s a war hero because we worked together. He’s a war hero. I guess I am too.” Trump has never been deployed or fought in a war.

o Aug. 19, 2025: “The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future.” Posted on Truth Social. Uh, well, maybe slavery wasn’t so bad.

o Aug. 18, 2025: “We are now the only Country in the World that uses Mail-In Voting. All others gave it up because of the MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD ENCOUNTERED.” Data compiled by a Sweden-based organization that advocates for democracy globally, The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, found in an October 2024 report found that 34 countries or territories allow mail-in voting.

o August 10, 2025: Truth Social post – “The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY. We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital.” It’s spelled Capitol, Mr. President.

o August 1, 2025. “I think we’re gonna be very successful fairly soon (in lowering drug prices). We’ll have drug prices coming down by 500%, 600%, 800%, even 1,200%.”

o July 27, 2025: “You have a certain place in the Massachusetts area that over the last 20 years had 1 or 2 whales wash ashore. And over the last short period of time they had 18. Ok? Because it’s driving them loco. No, windmills will not happen in the United States.” According g to NOAA, , there is no scientific evidence that noise resulting from offshore wind site characterization surveys could potentially cause whale deaths. There are no known links between large whale deaths and ongoing offshore wind activities. There are, according to the U.S. Wind Turbine Database (USWTDB), 76,051 wind turbines operating across 45 states, plus Guam and Puerto Rico.

o July 23, 2025: “This is somebody nobody else can do. I can get the drug prices down… 1000% 600% 500% 1500%. Numbers that are not even thought to be achievable.” Huh?

o On July 16, 2025, during a rant against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, Trump said, “I’m surprised he was appointed. I was surprised that Biden put him in.” Trump nominated Powell for the position in 2017.

o At a July 14, 2025 Oval Office press conference:

Q – If Putin escalates further, how far are you willing to go in response if Putin were to escalate and send more bombs in coming days? TRUMP: “Don’t ask me a question like that. They’re not Americans that are dying in it. I have a problem – and JD has a problem with it. It’s a stance that he’s had for a long time – they’re not Americans dying. We want to defend our country.”

… Q – Why are you giving Putin 50 more days? TRUMP: “I’ve just really been involved in this for not very long. It wasn’t an initial focus. This is a Biden war. This is a Democrat war.”

o July 10, 2025:

Asked about the Epstein files, Trump posted: Could you all just FOCUS on the very many other more important things to discuss than whether or not I may or MAY NOT be all over the Epstein Files? There was a BIG FLOOD in Texas. Huge flood as it relates to water. Many people DIED. Many beautiful young girls. Perhaps some not so beautiful illegal Mexican peoples as well. Perhaps drug dealers disguised as day laborers. You can never tell. They don’t speak American. That is very suspicious. Again, forget about me and the Epstein Files. Focus on MEXICANS and FLOODING.

Talking about the deadly Texas floods: You know, it’s called rain. It rains a lot in certain places. But, now their idea, you know, did you see the other day? They just, I opened it up and they closed it again. I opened it, they close it, washing machines to wash your dishes.


o REPORTER: How do you want Republican voters in NYC to vote in the upcoming mayoral election?  TRUMP: We have tremendous power at the White House to run places when we have to. We could run DC … we’re thinking about doing it, to be honest with you.

o On July 1, 2025, a reporter from the Fox News Channel asked Trump about Alligator Alcatraz, the new detention facility in the Everglades: “Mr. President, is there an expected time frame that detainees will spend here? Days, weeks, months?”

Trump’s reply: “In Florida? I’m going to spend a lot. Look, this is my home state. I love it, I love your government, I love all the people around. These are all friends of mine. They know very well. I mean, I’m not surprised that they do so well. They’re great people. Ron has been a friend of mine for a long time. I feel very comfortable in the state. I’ll spend a lot of time here. I want to, you know, for four years, I’ve got to be in Washington, and I’m okay with it because I love the White House. I even fixed up the little Oval Office, I make it—it’s like a diamond, it’s beautiful. It’s so beautiful. It wasn’t maintained properly, I will tell you that. But even when it wasn’t, it was still the Oval Office, so it meant a lot. But I’ll spend as much time as I can here. You know, my vacation is generally here, because it’s convenient. I live in Palm Beach. It’s my home. And I have a very nice little place, nice little cottage to stay at, right? But we have a lot of fun, and I’m a big contributor to Florida, you know, pay a lot of tax, and a lot of people moved from New York, and I don’t know what New York is going to do. A lot of people moved to Florida from New York, and it was for a lot of reasons, but one of them was taxes. The taxes are so high in New York, they’re leaving. I don’t know what New York’s going to do about that, because some of the biggest, wealthiest people, and some of the people that pay the most taxes of any people anywhere in the world, for that matter, they’re moving to Florida and other places. So we’re going to have to help some of these states out, I think. But thank you very much. I’ll be here as much as I can. Very nice question.”

o “Gettysburg, what an unbelievable battle that was, The Battle of Gettysburg. What an unbelievable – I mean, it was so much and so interesting, and so vicious and horrible, and so beautiful in so many different ways. It, it represented such a big portion of the success of this country. Gettysburg, wow. I go to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to look and to watch.”

o On why Trump wouldn’t call Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz after the targeted shootings of state lawmakers: “I don’t really call him. He’s slick — he appointed this guy to a position. I think the governor of Minnesota is so whacked out. I’m not calling him. why would I call him? I could call him and say, ‘Hi, how you doing? The guy doesn’t have a clue. He’s a, he’s a mess. So, you know, I could be nice and call him but why waste time?”

o “[Harris’s] vice presidential pick says abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine. He also says execution after birth – it’s execution, no longer abortion because the baby is born – is okay.”

o Reporter – “Is there ‘a threshold’ of pain in the stock market you are unwilling to tolerate?” “I think your question is so stupid.”

o On why he decided to reopen Alcatraz: “Well, I guess I was supposed to be a moviemaker. We’re talking about, we started with the movie making it will end. I mean, it represents something very strong, very powerful in terms of law and order. Our country needs law and order. Alcatraz is, I would say, the ultimate, right? Alcatraz, Sing Sing and Alcatraz, the movies, but, uh, it’s now a museum, believe it or not. A lot of people go there. It housed the most violent criminals in the world. …It sort of represents something that’s both horrible and beautiful and strong and miserable. It’s got a lot of qualities that are interesting.”

Alcatraz

o On sea level rise with climate change: “It’s going to create more oceanfront property.”

o “Silence of the Lamb! Has anyone ever seen The Silence of the Lambs? The late, great Hannibal Lecter is a wonderful man. He oftentimes would have a friend for dinner. Remember the last scene? Excuse me, I’m about to have a friend for dinner as this poor doctor walked by. I’m about to have a friend for dinner. But Hannibal Lecter. Congratulations. The late, great Hannibal Lecter. We have people that are being released into our country that we don’t want in our country.”

Hannibal Lecter

o On airplanes during the revolutionary war: “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.”

Image AI-generated on ChatGTP

o “But the transgender thing is incredible, think of it! Your kid goes to school and comes home a few days later with an operation, the school decides what’s going to happen with your child. And you know many of these childs (sic) 15 years later say, what the hell happened, who did this to me? They say, who did this to me? It’s incredible.”

o “Whoever heard you get indicted for interfering with a presidential election where you have every right to do it, you get indicted, and your poll numbers go up?” When people get indicted, your poll numbers go down. But it was such, such nonsense.”

o On Senator John McCain: “He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”

o “The great pandemic certainly was a terrible thing where they lost anywhere from 50 to 100 million people. Probably ended the Second World War, all the soldiers were sick.”

o “I think Viagra is wonderful if you need it, if you have medical issues, if you’ve had surgery. I’ve just never needed it. Frankly, I wouldn’t mind if there were an anti-Viagra, something with the opposite effect. I’m not bragging. I’m just lucky. I don’t need it. I’ve always said, “If you need Viagra, you’re probably with the wrong girl.”

o “My fingers are long and beautiful, as it has been well documented, are various other parts of my body.”

o On consulting with others on foreign policy: “I’m speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I’ve said a lot of things.”

o On him stealing a gossip columnist’s girlfriend: “Any girl you have, I can take from you.”

o On why Napolean failed to invade Russia in the 18th century: “His one problem is he didn’t go to Russia that night because he had extracurricular activities, and they froze to death,”

o Criticizing a nuclear deal the Obama administration negotiated with Iran: “…but you look at the nuclear deal, the thing that really bothers me — it would have been so easy, and it’s not as important as these lives are — nuclear is so powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he would explain the power of what’s going to happen and he was right, who would have thought? — but when you look at what’s going on with the four prisoners — now it used to be three, now it’s four — but when it was three and even now, I would have said it’s all in the messenger; fellas, and it is fellas because, you know, they don’t, they haven’t figured that the women are smarter right now than the men, so, you know, it’s gonna take them about another 150 years — but the Persians are great negotiators, the Iranians are great negotiators, so, and they, they just killed, they just killed us, this is horrible.”

o Responding to a complaint about illegal immigrants taking away opportunities from Americans. “It’s going to start with the Black population. African Americans are losing their jobs. And I don’t know if you heard the latest statistic, that of the jobs that these people created, which is very little, every single job was taken – about 107 percent – was taken by illegal immigrants.”

o Speaking about hurricane Florence: “This is one of the wettest we’ve seen, from the standpoint of water.”

o “Right now, in a number of states, the laws allow a baby to be born from his or her mother’s womb in. the ninth month. It is wrong. It has to change.”

o On the affect of wind turbines: “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. You tell me that one, okay?”

o Reporter: “George W. Bush said the reason the Oval Office is round as there are no corners you can hide in.” Trump:
“Well, there’s truth to that. There is truth to that. There are certainly no corners. And you look, there’s a certain openness. But there’s nobody out there. You know, there is an openness, but I’ve never seen anybody out there actually, as you could imagine.”

o On the impact of his tariffs. “You know, somebody said, ‘Oh, the shelves are going to be open. Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, you know? And maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally.”

o On the Dodgers winning the 2024 World Series: “When you ran out the healthy arms, you ran out of really healthy— they had great arms but they ran out. It’s called sports. It’s called baseball in particular and pitchers I guess you could say.”

o On Project 25, which has been guiding his 2nd term: “I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it. I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.”

o On wind power and bacon: “You take a look at bacon and some of these products. Some people don’t eat bacon anymore. And we are going to get the energy prices down. When we get energy down — you know, this was caused by their horrible energy — wind, they want wind all over the place. But when it doesn’t blow, we have a little problem.”

o On his supporters storming the Capitol on January 6, 2021: “The primary scene in Washington was hundreds of thousands, the largest group of people I’ve ever spoken before, and I’ve spoken – and it was love and peace. And some people went to the Capitol. And a lot of strange things happened there. A lot of strange things with people being waved into the Capitol by police, with people screaming, go in with – that never got into trouble, you know? I don’t want to mention names, but you know who they are. A lot of strange things happened.”

Credit: BBC

o On whether Chinese ownership of TikTok is a security threat: “I think it is a threat. I – I – frankly, I think everything’s a threat. There’s nothing that’s not a threat.They do treat me very badly. Oh, and he told me no way. You’re the No. 1 person on all of Google for stories. I mean – which probably makes sense, to be honest with you. I hate (inaudible). Most of them are bad stories but these are minor details, right? Be – and it’s only bad because of the fake news, cause the news is really fake. We – that’s the one we really have to – straighten it – and we have to straighten out our press because we have a corrupt press.”

o Aug. 10, 2020: “In 1917 … the great pandemic certainly was a terrible thing where they lost anywhere from 50 to 100 million people. Probably ended the Second World War, all the soldiers were sick. That was a terrible situation.” The pandemic, due to the Spanish Flu, occurred in 1918-1919 toward the end of WWI.

o On how he would react if Playboy magazine were to feature a picture of his daughter Ivanka on its cover: “I don’t think Ivanka would do that inside the magazine. Although she does have a very nice figure. I’ve said that if Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I would be dating her.”

Credit:New York Magazine

o On attractive girlfriends serving as an antidote to bad press: “You know, it doesn’t really matter what they write as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of ass.”

o On his sexual prowess: “Oftentimes when I was sleeping with one of the top women in the world I would say to myself, thinking about me as a boy from Queens, ‘Can you believe what I am getting?”


o On politics in the year 2000: . “One of the key problems today is that politics is such a disgrace. Good people don’t go into government. I’d want to change that.”

o A Trump tweet at 12:06 a.m. on May 31, 2017: “Despite the constant negative press covfefe.”

o “I’m automatically attracted to beautiful women — I just start kissing them, it’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ‘em by the pussy.”

o On his superiority to “the haters”: “Sorry losers and haters, but my I.Q. is one of the highest -and you all know it! Please don’t feel so stupid or insecure, it’s not your fault.”

o Said during a Rose Garden speech on tariffs: “It’s such an old-fashioned term, but a beautiful term: groceries. It says ‘a bag with different things in it.”

o On violent sadists being employed by the federal government: “The other thing we did is, we had civil service, 9,000 people that were crooks and thugs and sadists, a lot of sadists. They enjoyed beating up our wounded warriors in less than primetime. You know, in primetime, they would’ve gotten the hell beat out of them, but our people were in bad shape and they would beat them up. We had sadists. Can you believe this is a country? But it’s the way it is.”

o “They should give me the Nobel prize for Rwanda and have you looked at the Congo? You could say Serbia. You could say a lot of them. The big one is India and Pakistan. I should have gotten it 4-5 times. They won’t give it because they only give it to liberals.”

o On media reporting that the US aerial attacks on Iranian nuclear sites may not have” obliterated ” them as Trump asserted: “They’re really hurting great pilots that put their lives on the line. CNN is scum. And so is MSDNC, their all. I think CNN ought to apologize to the pilots of the B2s. I think MSDNC ought to apologize. I think these guys really; these networks and these cable networks are real losers. You really are. You’re real losers. You’re gutless losers. I say that to CNN, ’cause I watch it. I got no choice. I got to watch that garbage. It’s all garbage. It’s all fake news. But, I think CNN is a gutless group of people.”

o In a 1997 interview with radio personality Howard Stern , Trump claimed he was a “brave soldier” for avoiding STDs during his single years in the late ’90s. “It’s amazing, I can’t even believe it. I’ve been so lucky in terms of that whole world, it is a dangerous world out there. It’s like Vietnam, sort of. It is my personal Vietnam. I feel like a great and very brave solider,” Trump said when Stern asked how he handled making sure he wasn’t contracting STDs from the women he was sleeping with. Trump went on, calling women’s vaginas “potential landmines” and saying “there’s some real danger there.”

OK, one more.

Trump speaking at a Nevada rally on the danger of electric boats: “So I said, “Let me ask you a question.” And he said, “Nobody ever asks this question,” and it must because of MIT, my relationship to MIT. Very smart. I say, “What would happen if the boat sank from its weight, and you’re in the boat, and you have this tremendously powerful battery, and the battery’s now under water, and there’s a shark that’s approximately 10 yards over there”—by the way, a lot of shark attacks lately, do you notice that? Lotta shark—I watched some guys justifying it today, “Well, they weren’t really that angry, they bit off the young lady’s leg because of the fact that they were, they were . . . not hungry but they misunderstood what—who she was.” These people are crazy. He said, “There’s no problem with sharks, they just didn’t really understand a young woman swimming,” no, really got decimated and other people, too, a lot of shark attacks. So I said, “There’s a shark ten yards away from the boat, ten yards, or here. Do I get electrocuted if the boat is sinking, water goes over the battery, the boat is sinking? Do I stay on top of the boat and get electrocuted, or do I jump over by the shark and not get electrocuted?” Because I will tell you, he didn’t know the answer. He said, “You know, nobody’s ever asked me that question.” I said, “I think it’s a good question. I think there’s a lot of electric current coming through that water.” But you know what I’d do if there was a shark or you get electrocuted? I’ll take electrocution every single time.”

And none of this, of course, includes the the vitriol Trump spews on Truth Social, such as this post after CNN’s Natasha Bertrand reported that the U.S. strikes on three of Iran’s nuclear facilities did not destroy the country’s nuclear program, but, in an initial finding that could change with additional intelligence, only set it back by months:

“Natasha Bertrand should be FIRED from CNN! I watched her for three days doing Fake News. She should be IMMEDIATELY reprimanded, and then thrown out “like a dog.” She lied on the Laptop from Hell Story, and now she lied on the Nuclear Sites Story, attempting to destroy our Patriot Pilots by making them look bad when, in fact, they did a GREAT job and hit “pay dirt” — TOTAL OBLITERATION! She should not be allowed to work at Fake News CNN. It’s people like her who destroyed the reputation of a once great Network. Her slant was so obviously negative, besides, she doesn’t have what it takes to be an on camera correspondent, not even close. FIRE NATASHA!”

Trump’s Climate Change Denial Hits Key Federal Agency

Humans to blame for bulk of Arctic sea ice loss, study finds | news.com.au  — Australia's leading news site

OK, Mr. Trump, now you’ve gone over the line. You’ve callously attacked a critical federal agency I worked for earlier in my career and that works to protect the Pacific Northwest, where I live.. 

An administration that has demonstrated its resistance to science has taken another ill-advised step, firing 800 probationary employees at the of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In addition, about 500 employees left the agency on Friday after taking a so-called deferred resignation offer, the New York Times reported. 

This follows a Trump administration order to NOAA earlier this month to search for climate change-related keywords in its grant programs. The Commerce Department instructed NOAA and its divisions to review grants for specific terms like “climate” and “greenhouse gas” without clearly saying why, although there were suspicions it was tied to the new administration’s hostility toward climate change research.

It also follows an Associated Press report that Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin, appointed by Trump, has privately urged the Trump administration the  to reconsider a scientific finding that has long been the central basis for U.S. action against climate change. 

According to the Associated Press, in a report to the White House, Zeldin “called for a rewrite of the agency’s finding that determined planet-warming greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare, according to four people who were briefed on the matter but spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the recommendation is not public. The 2009 finding under the Clean Air Act is the legal underpinning of a host of climate regulations for motor vehicles, power plants and other pollution sources.”

The Trump administration is particularly resistant to climate science because taking the subject seriously would mean reducing the use of fossil fuels, an industry that supported and helped pay for Trump’s return to office and his commitment to American energy dominance.

The probationary employees pushed out at NOAA—who have been in their jobs for a short period and lack the protections afforded to staff members with longer tenure—received a blunt dismissal email on Thursday, according to Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and transportation, which oversees NOAA. The email read in part: “[T]he Agency finds that you are not fit for continued employment because your ability, knowledge and/or skills do not fit the Agency’s current needs.”

“The firings jeopardize our ability to forecast and respond to extreme weather events like hurricanes, wildfires, and floods—putting communities in harm’s way,” Cantwell said. “They also threaten our maritime commerce and endanger 1.7 million jobs that depend on commercial, recreational and tribal fisheries…This action is a direct hit to our economy, because NOAA’s specialized workforce provides products and services that support more than a third of the nation’s GDP.”

“American science, in other words, had performed a remarkable feat: it had given us a timely early warning of the single greatest danger our species has ever faced,” Bill McKibben wrote in the New Yorker. “I listed all the players involved because those agencies—the N.S.F., NOAANASA—are precisely the institutions now being told to scrub their Web sites and re-examine their grants for projects that run counter to the Administration’s diktat on climate—and “diversity.”

The attack on NOAA, one of the more visible signs of the Trump administration’s opposition to climate change activism, seems to foolishly reflect a view that blocking research will also halt the reality of long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns.

NOAA’s Climate Change Program’s office manages competitive research programs in which NOAA funds high-priority climate science, assessments, decision support research, outreach, education, and capacity-building activities designed to advance our understanding of Earth’s climate system. It also aims to foster the application of this knowledge in risk management and adaptation efforts. The research is conducted across the United States and globally.

Project 2025, a policy blueprint published by the Heritage Foundation that is reflected in many of the actions taken by the Trump administration, says the agency is “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry” and calls for it to be dismantled.

During his presidential campaign, Trump firmly disavowed any connection with, or even detailed knowledge of, Project 2025. He has nevertheless filled his new administration with numerous Project 2025 authors and contributors and is pursuing many of the project’s recommendations.

Oregon Democrats are going to get your kicker, one way or another

State Senator Jeff Golden wrote an Opinion column in The Oregonian recently calling for diversion of the next kicker, recently forecasted to be $1.8 billion, to a dedicated Wildfire Programs Fund, which the state treasurer would invest.

It’s just one more way for a hungry Democrat-run government to raid your pocketbook. 

The idea came out of a workgroup of 36 stakeholders chosen by Gov. Tina Kotek to deliberate over alternative funding sources for dealing with wildfires. 

The key options identified were:

  • Kicker Funds: One-time use to “jump-start” wildfire funding.
  • Bottle Bill Adjustment: increase the bottle deposit to include a non-refundable portion for wildfire funding.
  • Insurance retaliatory tax – Dedicate a portion of existing retaliatory taxes paid by out-of-state insurers to the State.
  • Ending Balance: Dedicate 0.5% of previous biennium’s appropriations (if there is an ending balance) to the Wildfire Fund. 
  • One time transfer from the Rainy Day Fund (RDF) – directed to wildfire.
  • Lottery Funds – Constitutionally dedicate a portion of lottery funds for wildfire.
  • Landowner assessment rates and existing structure – will be part of the solution. 

The proposal to create a Wildfire Programs Fund “stands out from the others,” Golden wrote.

“Funding for our programs would come not from the $1.8 billion principal—that would be preserved – but rather from the investment interest it earns.,” Golden wrote. “Assuming 5% annual return (a reasonable guess judging by the Treasury’s investment history), the fund would annually generate $90 million – $180 million each biennium – for wildfire programs. While that’s not enough to cover all our needs, it sure looks good relative to the $87 million budgeted in the current two-year cycle.”

The Legislature has fooled around with the kicker before. In 1991 and 1993, budget problems relating to Ballot Measure 5 of 1990 prompted lawmakers to suspend the kicker, withholding $246 million from taxpayers. Then, in 2007, lawmakers succeeded in diverting funds from the corporate kicker to a surplus account called the rainy day fund.

Public resistance to diversion of the kicker has historically been strong. As one current Reddit post says, “The Oregon State government is run as efficiently as an HOA. The kicker policy at least mandates them to return surpluses rather than letting this group of clowns spend it on whatever is fashionable and keeps them in office.”

There’s also long been suspicion that free-spending Democrats will take undue advantage of any relaxation in kicker policy.“This past session, I was approached multiple times by Democrats who wanted to use the kicker for some purpose, and their requests were well over $10 billion,” Senate Minority Leader Tim Knopp, R-Bend, told OPB in 2023. “The reason I haven’t done any of that is, once you open the door, you’re going to spend it all.”

That’s still true. 

Don’t Make Oregon’s Failing Public Schools Even Worse

Even with Oregon’s public school students already suffering from abysmal scores on national reading and mathematics tests and one in five students failing to graduate from high school in four years, state politicians can’t seem to stop inserting themselves into school curriculum decisions.

State Senators James I. Manning Jr. and Deb Patterson​ want to add another labor-intensive, complicated and questionable instructional mandate on students and teachers.

SB 284, submitted by the two senators at the request of Oregon Educators for Climate Education, “a statewide group of educators working toward Oregon legislation that would integrate and infuse PK-12 climate change education across all core subject areas”, would:

  • Require each school district board to develop a written plan establishing a climate change instructional program for kindergarten through grade 12 no later than June 1, 2026. 
  • Require school districts to submit their plan to the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) for initial approval and then again every seven years.
  • Require ODE to develop and adopt a model plan in consultation with other state agencies and stakeholders, to develop academic content standards, and to approve and make available list of resources and materials that meet academic content standards.
  • Require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to withhold distributions from Student Investment Account from school districts that fail to develop and implement climate change instructional program.
  • Require that career and technical education funding from High School Graduation and College and Career Readiness Fund be spent on programs that support climate-focused sustainability career pathways. 

Meanwhile, state Rep. David Gomberg, D-Lincoln City, introduced  House Bill 2905 that would add to existing requirements for Oregon’s schools to teach about BIPOC, LGBTQ, immigrant communities and others by requiring that schools “Ensure that the academic content standards for history, geography, economics and civics include sufficient instruction on the histories, contributions and perspectives of individuals who…are of Jewish descent.” The bill has already cleared the House awaits Senate action.

SB 284’s climate change mandate would come on top of a K–12 Native American curriculum for all Oregon public schools created after passage of SB 13, a Tribal History/Shared History initiative, in 2017. The initiative has developed more than 45 lesson plans for grades four, eight, and ten across multiple content areas. The Oregon Department of Education’s Office of Indian Education (ODE/OIE) launched the first phase of implementation in these grade levels During the 2020/21 academic year. 

It’s all fine and good to want Oregon’s K-12 public school students to be up to speed on topics of the day, but adding more costly and time-consuming mandates when even the basic curriculum isn’t being effectively delivered is a recipe for failure. 

And the legislature doesn’t have a particularly good track record with earlier curriculum changes it has imposed. 

Legislation requiring that all Oregon school districts teach about the Holocaust beginning with the 2020-2021 school year is a case in point.

Claire Sarnowski, a freshman at Lake Oswego’s Lakeridge High School, came up with the idea of mandating Holocaust instruction after hearing Holocaust survivor Alter Wiener tell his story. Sarnowski approached state Sen. Rob Wagner, who agreed to introduce a bill.

It all sounded so simple and straightforward at the outset, but the final legislation was a classic example of mission creep.

The legislation went far beyond mandating that students be taught about the Holocaust.  Employing the coercive power of government, teachers are now required to address a slew of social justice topics: the immorality of mass violence; respect for cultural diversity; the obligation to combat wrongdoing through resistance, including protest; and the value of restorative justice.

You can be sure that any mandated climate change curriculum would morph into similar broad terrain and impose even more demands on Oregon’s already overburdened teachers and students.

Hypocrisy at work: National Geographic sponsors global environmental damage by the well-heeled.

It’s not your parents’ National Geographic.

The nonprofit National Geographic Society markets itself as a leading environmental steward committed to protecting our planet. So why is it running extravagant global travel programs for the rich that have major negative environmental impacts? 

National Geographic Expeditions is currently offering five trips by private jet, two of them trips around the world.

The Wall Street Journal’s August 25, 2020 issue featured a full-page advertisement by the Journal and National Geographic Expeditions for “The Future of Everything: Exploring Global Innovation by Private Jet, August 21, 2021 – Sept. 13, 2021.”

The ad tempted big spenders to “gain illuminating perspectives on how advances in science and technology are shaping tomorrow’s global economy and culture.” In addition, “A top-notch team of experts and leading journalists will accompany the expedition,” including experts from National Geographic and the Wall Street Journal.

A deeper look, however, reveals that the trip will be more a luxurious sightseeing journey for the affluent than a deep, intellectual exploration of global innovation.  

For example, according to the trip’s website, at their first stop in Kyoto, Japan, the travelers will have opportunities to tour the alleys of Nishiki Market, the historic geisha district of Gion, the bamboo grove of Arashiyama, the zen garden at the Ryoanji temple or traditional wooden townhouses called machiya. They will even be able toenjoy a cooking class in one of the historic dwellings. 

During a two-day stop in Seoul, S. Korea, the travelers will visit the War Memorial of Korea and the National Museum of Korea, learn about Buddhist traditions at the centuries-old temple of Jingwansa and, as in Kyoto, attend a cooking class.

In Mongolia, they will settle into traditional ger tents and and gather to hear National Geographic Emerging Explorer Federico Fanti discuss new methodologies for curbing the illegal trade of fossils and natural resources in the Gobi. They’ll also explore red rock landscapes, see the Moltsog Els sand dunes and ride horseback across the steppe. They will even meet a nomadic family for tea. 

All this for a mere $94,995 per person double occupancy or $104,490 single occupancy.

The private jet – “A Boeing 757—specially configured with VIP-style seating for just 75 passengers—affords us unmatched flexibility and is ideally suited for these remarkable expeditions,” National Geographic Expeditions says on its website. The plane’s usual capacity is 180 to 233 people. No small, fully loaded, and fuel-efficient plane for this journey. (Coincidentally, Donald Trump’s plane, which he bought in 2011 from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, is a Boeing 757.) 

National Geographic’s Boeing 757

Powered by a pair of Rolls-Royce RB211 turbofan engines, the National Geographic’s Boeing 757 will fly around the world for 24 days.

Route of The Future of Everything trip.

Richard Heede, the co-founder and director of the Climate Accountability Institute, has estimated that a Boeing 757 emits roughly 26 tons of CO2 per 1,000-mile trip. The website for The Future of Everything trip doesn’t specify the distance the plane will fly, but a reasonable estimate is 22,000 miles. That means the plane will produce an estimated 572 tons of CO2 emissions. Human-related emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are a primary driver of climate change and present one of the world’s most pressing challenges with a range of potential ecological, physical and health impacts.

Why is National Geographic behind this jaunt?

You just have to know that National Geographic is no longer just the publisher of the ubiquitous magazine with the distinctive yellow border that’s been published continuously since 1888.

In 2015, the National Geographic magazine abandoned its nonprofit status and became part of National Geographic Partners, a venture between its parent organization and 21st Century Fox. Under the $725 million deal, Fox became the owner of 73 percent of the new company.  The National Geographic Society, which continues with the mission to “inspire people to care about the planet,” became the owner of 27 percent of the new company.

National Geographic Partners combined the National Geographic TV channels with a list of media properties that included National Geographic magazine as well as travel programs, including National Geographic Expeditions.

To say the least, promoting responsible environmental behavior is probably not high on 21st Century Fox’s mission, nor is inspiring people to care about the planet.

Now you know what’s going on, and it’s not pretty.

Gov. Brown’s new solar power orders are a stealth tax.

Gov. Kate Brown must figure that if Barack Obama could govern by executive order, so can she.

So right before she was to head for Germany to attend the United Nations climate talks she imposed new taxes through Executive Orders 17-20 and 17-21 with absolutely no public debate.

brownsolar

Yeah, higher housing costs!

Brown doesn’t call her Executive Orders a tax. She calls them a direction to the state Department of Business and Consumer Services’ Building Code Division (BCD) to amend the state’s codes with respect to making new residential and commercial structures “solar ready”. She also mandated that all new parking structures for home and commercial buildings be wired for a charger for an electric vehicle by October 2022.

But all this will cost builders extra money, and they will pass those costs on to homebuyers and building users.

So, at a time when the state is struggling with a lack of affordable housing, Gov. Brown is unilaterally imposing additional costs on Oregonians to burnish her credentials with the environmental lobby. Would those now endorsing Brown’s move be as pleased if she had unilaterally eliminated some environmentally- friendly sections of the state’s building code?

There is always a cost associated with retrofitting a building to accommodate solar. With the proper solar ready preparations, these measures may cost less if done at the time of building construction. But the decision on whether to impose a requirement for solar ready structures should be made in a public process.

Building code amendments are typically accomplished by legislative action or the adoption of proposals from the public. Legislative action takes time and requires public hearings. If a member of the public proposes an amendment, the Division insists that proposals:

  1. Be shared with people and organizations that will be impacted.
  2. Be accompanied by substantiating evidence or information to support the change
  3. Include the cost impact the change would have on building construction.

Brown didn’t bother with any of these steps, including projecting costs. She probably doesn’t know what all this is going to cost….or care..

Oregonians should see Brown’s move for what it is, a new tax on homebuyers and a dangerous level of executive overreach.

 

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Liberals love science, except on GMOs

Have some doubts about human-caused climate change. Get over it, liberals say. It’s an indisputable fact, a sure thing, unassailable. Science proves it and you gotta trust science.

Heck, it’s so clear-cut, even the Portland School Board has unanimously adopted a resolution that directs district officials to get rid of classroom materials that express “doubt about the severity of the climate crisis or its root in human activities.”

The Board didn’t clarify whether that meant such faulty materials were to be burned, a la Fahrenheit 451 where Captain Beatty burned books because they produce “two sides to a question to worry him”.

But scads of liberals take a different tack when the issue is GMOs.

bamGM0

Ranting and raving that GMOs just aren’t safe, they demand labeling of products containing GMOs and insist there’s a need to protect the non-GMO food supply. In a 330-page publication dismissing the “myths” about the safety of GMOs, Earth Open Source, an organization that “is presenting the evidence regarding the social, environmental, and health impacts of GMO foods”, asserts “that those disagreeing with GMO proponents’ claims of safety include hundreds of eminent scientists.”

GMOatCostco

A display at a Costco store

But science says differently.

GMO crops are as safe to eat as their non-GMO counterparts and have no negative environmental impacts according to a comprehensive report released on May 17 by the National Academy of Sciences —a group founded by the U.S. Congress to provide expert scientifically-based advice on a variety of issues. The report is a 388-page, comprehensive look at every aspect of genetically engineered crops.

Key messages in the report, summarized by National Geographic, are:

  • GMO crops are safe to eat…there’s no evidence of harm.
  • The GMO crops in our food system have “…helped farmers protect yields from insects and weeds.”
  • The report found no adverse affects on biodiversity or danger from interbreeding between GMO crops and wild relatives.
  • The economic benefits to farmers have been well-documented.
  • Appropriate regulation is imperative, and that regulation should be based on the characteristics of the crop, rather than the technique used to develop it, whether GMO or non-GMO.
  • Ongoing public conversations about GE crops and related issues should be characterized by transparency and public participation.

The National Academy of Sciences report also notes that both genetic engineering and conventional breeding are important to crop improvement. Each method has strengths and weaknesses, and treating them “as competing approaches is a false dichotomy; more progress in crop improvement can be brought about by using both … than by using either alone.”

So, will the GMO alarmists finally see the light? Will they embrace science and back off? Doubtful. But at least now there’s a stronger argument to challenge their illusions.

Tweedledee. Tweedledum: The two parties spend with abandon.

tweedledumTweedledee

Tweedledee. Tweedledum. This is what we get when the two parties work together, a massive spending spree.

A $1.1 trillion federal spending bill and a $650 billion tax package unveiled today show that neither party gives a damn about holding down spending. It’s not that all the items to be funded are wasteful or unneeded, but the package will push spending above previously agreed limits by $66 billion in 2016 and permanently extend a vast array of tax benefits that will add at least a half-trillion dollars to the federal deficit, once a matter of great concern.

deficit

  • Bowing to pressure on Republicans and Democrats from medical device manufacturers across the county, including in Oregon, anti-Obamacare zealots, and ticked-off unions with expensive healthcare plans, the legislation will postpone for two years (which probably means forever) a 2.3 percent excise tax on medical devices manufacturers, that was expected to raise $29 billion of net revenues over 10 years and a so-called “Cadillac Tax” tax on expensive employer-sponsored healthcare plans, that was projected to raise about $30 billion over 10 years to cover new spending under Obamacare. Then, to add insult to injury, the legislation makes the Cadillac tax refundable when it restarts. The lost taxes will blow a hole in planned funding to cover the cost of Obamacare.
  • The Defense Department will get $1111 billion for new military equipment, including F-35 Joint-Strike Fighters, Black Hawk helicopters, attack submarines and guided missile destroyers.
  • A 40-year-old oil export ban will be rescinded and, in trade, Democrats will get expensive extensions of wind and solar power tax incentives.
  • A research and development tax credit will be expanded and extended permanently.
  • The $1,000 Child Tax Credit will be extended permanently.
  • The Earned Income Tax Credit will be permanently extended.
  • A federal health program for first responders and construction workers who worked at the World Trade Center site after 9/11 and a separate victims compensation fund will be extended at a cost of $8 billion.
  • A National Oceans and Coastal Security Fund will be created to “support work that helps Americans understand and adapt to forces like sea level rise, severe storms, and ocean acidification” associated with climate change.
  • The American Opportunity Tax Credit, an annual credit for tuition and other qualified expenses, will be permanently extended.
  • A $250 annual deduction on qualified expenses of teachers will be indexed for inflation and permanently extended.
  • Five tax credits tied to charitable donations by individuals and businesses will be permanently extended.
  • Funding for the IRS will be frozen, punishing the IRS for targeting conservative groups, but also further limiting its ability to go after tax scofflaws and, this, reducing tax receipts.
  • A $255 per month pre-tax benefit for parking and public transportation expenses will be permanently extended.

But aside from all the spending, Congress did accomplish a few good things.

There will be a pay freeze for Vice President Biden, for example.

Also, earlier this year the dour, stick-in-the-mud Capitol Police said sledding by gleeful children and adults on the snow of Capitol Hill would no longer be allowed. The package asks that the Capitol Police rescind that prohibition so the jollity can resume.

Capitol-Sledding