August 13, 2016

Quick! What Is 17 Times 6?

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Over at the mothership, Matt Miller reports that the nation’s scientists have some questions for Donald Trump and the rest of the presidential field. They want to know about climate change, biodiversity, science education, nuclear power, vaccines, and so forth, but I think they’re being a little too ambitious. Here is Trump on the Howard Stern show a few years ago:

STERN: What’s 17 times 6?
[Trump kids look like deer in headlights.]
TRUMP: It’s eleven twelve, 112.
STERN: Wrong!
ARTIE LANGE: It’s 102.
TRUMP: 112.
STERN: It is 112?
TRUMP: 112.

Maybe we should ask Trump to tell us what is 17 plus 6. Then we can move on to the harder stuff.

Of course, there’s a real lesson here: Trump knows it’s better to have an answer, any answer, than to be caught out. Besides, he was just being sarcastic. Why do you people take everything he says so seriously, anyway?

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Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do. That’s why we need you right now. Please chip in to help close the gap.

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