Donald Trump says that “no one knows what magnets are” during a strange Oval Office press conference. During the swearing in of a new ambassador to India on Monday (10 November), the President launched into a rant about China, whilst discussing their recent agreement to start easing rare earth export rules. “China was going to hit us with rare-earth. Now, everybody says, ‘Oh, what does that mean?’ Magnets. If China refused to give magnets, because they have a monopoly on magnets… there wouldn’t be a car made in the entire world.” He then claimed that “nobody knows what magnets are”, before going on to praise the “great deal” the two nations made in October. Whilst the talks did not end in a formal agreement, Mr Trump agreed to reduce tariffs on some Chinese goods entering the US, whilst Beijing agreed to suspend export control measures it had placed on rare earths.
This is that bell curve meme with Trump on the left side and Richard Feynman on the right. Funny how true it is that dipshits and geniuses often say the same things. When asked how magnets work, Feynman concluded his explanation with:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MO0r930Sn_8
I unfortunately watched the 60 Minutes bit last sunday on farmers getting fucked over by trump (parents had it on). It ended with one of the farmers saying “he’s a very smart man, I’m not gonna take that away from him.” The thought of the mental state you have to be in to think trump is a genius is just soul-crushing.
Sure.
But once you boil down absolutely any physical effect… gravity, light, sound, (literally everything) you eventually get to that point.
The answer to any “why”, after a certain number of follow-up “whys” is always always always “we don’t know”, irrespective of the original question.
Magnets aren’t at all special in this regard.