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- Years ago, the Insane Clown Posse proposed a thought-provoking question: Magnets, how do they work?
- Donald Trump's recent rant at an Iowa rally shows that he sadly won't be able to tell you.
- Miracles, right?
"Fucking magnets, how do they work?"
The rock-rap duo Insane Clown Posse posed that very question in their "Miracles" single in 2009, as they took in the everyday wonders of life: the stars, the trees, childbirth, "long neck giraffes," and most importantly — magnets.
More than a decade later, the miracle of magnets still appears to stump some people, including Donald Trump.
At a recent rally in Mason City, Iowa, the former president went on a rant about the frailty of magnets while complaining about the Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier.
Simply put: The ship has an electromagnetic aircraft launch system that relies on very large magnets.
"They had a $900 million cost over on these stupid electric catapults that didn't work. They had almost a billion dollar cost over on the magnetic elevators," he said. "Think of it, magnets. Now all I know about magnets is this: Give me a glass of water, let me drop it on the magnets, that's the end of the magnets."
That is, of course, not how magnets work. They work just fine underwater.
But what do scientists know?
"I don't wanna talk to a scientist. Y'all motherfuckers lying and getting me pissed," the Insane Clown Posse rap in "Miracles." Trump's comments during the pandemic and on the climate crisis suggest that he doesn't much care for scientists either.
"I don't think science knows, actually," Trump once said, refuting the idea that climate change is driving some of the wildfires in California.
The clowns and Trump may have a lot in common outside bad makeup. However, it's hard to say who's joking and who isn't.
ICP's "Miracle" and the accompanying music video became a viral internet meme in 2010 and was parodied by "Saturday Night Live."
In an interview with The New York Times, rapper Violent J clarified: "Yeah, we know how magnets work. But they're still incredible."
He later said in the interview that the "good reaction" to "Miracles," was all "planned out" for a tour.
The Insane Clown Posse did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent during the weekend.
Carrier catapult claims
But Trump has yet to say he's joking, too. The former president has repeatedly brought up his fixation with the carrier, its electromagnetic catapult system, and the bizarre claim that magnets don't function with water.
"They want to use magnets to lift up the elevators," Trump said in a July 2021 interview with a Princeton professor. "I said magnets will not work. Give me a cup of water, throw it on the magnets, you totally short out the system. They said, 'How did you know that?' I said, 'Because I know that.'"
It's unclear where Trump might have got the idea that magnets don't work underwater, but it is a common myth that results in numerous debunking articles after a simple Google search.
To his credit, however, Trump was right that the electromagnetic catapults on the aircraft carrier would be unreliable.
An oversight report released in 2019 by the Defense Department's operational test office showed that the catapult system repeatedly failed to launch and land an aircraft. In 2020, Navy officials said they were unsure what was causing the system to malfunction. And the Pentagon still appears to be working out its kinks, The Maritime Executive reported in February.
If the scientists can't figure it out, maybe magnets are a miracle after all.