General Atomics, the company that builds the electromagnetic aircraft launch system for the Ford-class carriers, said Trump’s decision to revert to steam “warrants careful reconsideration”. The company told the Journal its work on the new ship is nearly 50% complete and “changing course now would introduce significant cost, schedule, and integration risks”.

Senator Mark Kelly, an Arizona Democrat and a former astronaut, was more blunt in his reaction to the news.

“I’ve launched off the front of aircraft carriers hundreds of times, have a Master’s degree in aeronautical engineering, and am a test pilot and even I wouldn’t suggest to the Navy how to engineer specific systems on its ships,” Kelly wrote on social media. “Donald Trump should stick to what he knows best – ballrooms, bankruptcy, and bullshit.”

  • moldy_rice@piefed.keyboardvagabond.com
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    24 minutes ago

    Remember folks: this is how he makes money.

    He’s not stupid. He’s using his power to pour more taxpayer dollars into private companies owned by him and his buddies. This is what theft and abuse of power looks like.

      • 3abas@lemmy.world
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        3 hours ago

        That would be enough. He’s also a proud Zionist, which should be enough to exclude anyone from polite society, but that’s half the fucking population that needs their moral compass replaced.

  • minorkeys@sh.itjust.works
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    9 hours ago

    Remember, this president suggested injecting bleach to cure COVID…he should have been severely punished for encouraging ppl to kill themselves.

  • switcheroo@lemmy.world
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    8 hours ago

    The orange pedo probably watched some dumb old movie and got the idea stuck on his pudding brain, hence this stupid ass crap…

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    13 hours ago

    “So I said, ‘What is this?’ ‘Sir, this is our digital catapult system’”, Trump went on. “It sounded bad to me. Digital. They have digital. What is digital? And it’s very complicated, you have to be Albert Einstein to figure it out. And I said – and now they want to buy more aircraft carriers – I said, ‘What system are you going to be’– ‘Sir, we’re staying with digital.’ I said, ‘No you’re not. You[’re] going to goddamned steam, the digital costs hundreds of millions of dollars more money and it’s no good’.”

    A Guardian review of Trump’s public remarks shows that he has retold that story, with variations, every year since 2017.

    The President of the United States folks…just wow…smh.

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      13 hours ago

      Another grift on the backs of the citizens more than likely. Nay, positively. This pedophile’s whole existence is a grift to the universe. Utter trash. It’s atoms need to be vaporized as they don’t belong.

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        13 hours ago

        And the no-bid contract goes to:… The Carrier Steam Company, established 2026, by Donald Trump Jr.

        Totally above board, of course. Although the Chairman would be Donald Trump Sr. Which would be a conflict of interest, except the Supreme Court would decide it’s not.

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      11 hours ago

      You know he’s just making it up when everyone says “sir” to him in his stories, but that’s hardly better that this is just his version of how it should have went.

      • BuckFutter@timeyak.com
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        Exactly. Seems like there is a simple formula for this buffoonary. Sir…problem…incoherent nonsense…for every “problem” that he talks about.

  • minorkeys@sh.itjust.works
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    10 hours ago

    Elect idiots, get idiotic decisions. Elections matter, who you elect matters, handing executive authority to an idiot matters. The American right just gave up thinking and votes their feelings, which is how you elect conmen.

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      7 hours ago

      Whole lotta people feel they have to fall in love with the Democratic option or else they check out, though.

      Which I just find infuriating, but people select their “leadership” by some of the stupidest monkey-level criteria, like how tall they are, or how handsome they are.

      Sigh.

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    13 hours ago

    They could just show him an AI generated video of an aircraft carrier with huge steam plumes every time a jet launches. They could get away with it.

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    13 hours ago

    I can already see the malicious compliance gears in motion:

    “Yes, sir!”
    The Naval CNO creates a project, codename “Ouroboros”. With the stated goal of replacing EMALS with steam. The project is assigned to whichever Colonel is on the shit list who is tasked with the feasibility study and creating the RFI.

    3 years later

    The whole thing is shit-canned by the next President.

  • altphoto@lemmy.today
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    8 hours ago

    Don’t forget your broom sticks 🧹. That is the standard way of detecting stray high power laser beams and invisible steam jets that can cut you in half!

    • oppy1984@lemdro.id
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      12 hours ago

      I can’t say for certain that he’s a Russian agent, but it is concerning how many things he does coincide with what a Russian agent would do.

    • Mirshe@lemmy.world
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      10 hours ago

      Oh nah, if this is anything, it’s another push to expand the military budget in ANOTHER bid to privatize the military, something he and his have been on for years.

  • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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    12 hours ago

    This timeline is so fucking stupid that I wish we could bring back the r-word to refer to this administration, those that support it, and most importantly, their god-emperor that they all worship.

    FFS. This stupid dipshit keeps “ordering” stuff and people just comply. Even asshole conservatives that should know better when it comes to reality.

    When our modern Caligula orders that they do battle against Neptune, will they also comply?

    https://lairofmythics.com/blogs/ancient-medieval-legends/caligula-vs-neptune

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      10 hours ago

      Retarded is the perfect way to discribe everything about this. I don’t care that some may find it offensive on behalf of some other people. The people who voted for the criminal rapist, fraudster and pedophile are fucking retarded.

      • Redditmodstouchgrass@lemmy.zip
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        9 hours ago

        The fight against that word has always been stupid. Calling someone stupid or a moron or an idiot is literally the same as calling someone retarded, but we’re okay with all those words. “OH but saying retarded is worse”, by what metric? You’re still saying the person is mentally deficient. That they’re incapable of performing basic thought processes and tasks.

        I have never once heard someone with those problems say that they felt any of those words hurt less.