The race to the bottom of intelligence is neck and neck between Donald Trump himself and the slack jawed bozos that vote for him. There is no winner to the "Lights Are On, But They Are Motion Sensor" Award.

I think what’s he’s getting confused about is that they’re using electromagnets, which the circuitry of could certainly be damaged by water.

I suspect someone at some point communicated some kind of potential problem the navy could be having, and he just went “magnets + water = bad, got it”. Which is what I think the real point should be here. It’s not so much that the president is confused about how magnets work, its more that someone at some point mentioned some kind of existing or potential situation and he is just spewing it back out without really understanding it.

Like basically the president of the fucking United States is not capable of understanding someone telling him that electromagnets can be damaged by water and is unable to communicate that basic concept.

Going for the juggalo vote?

He STILL thinks this somehow after saying it like 18 months ago too. I don’t know how no one told him he sounds like a fucking moron after the first time he said it publicly.

The article has a translation

The elderly president was talking about the magnetic catapults used to launch planes from the latest Navy super carriers, the USS Gerald R. Ford class, and the electromagnetic elevators used to move weaponry to the flight deck. Both systems double the speed with which planes can be armed and launched but slowed the delivery and commissioning

If you remember the news a few years back there were all sorts of delays and problems caused by switching from hydraulics to magnetic/electrical. It’s probably a vague memory of more complexity than he can handle. A sane president would have had someone with expertise go over his speech

It was the first time so as long as all the issues have been worked out and the next one is smoother, we’re good

He thinks that magnets can be foiled by water.

Yes, which is 1 million percent true. Just ask any aquarium hobbyist or electromagnetic elevator engineer.

https://www.kjmagnetics.com/blog/can-magnets-rust