Trump, 79, Gets Confused During Rant to the Navy

President Donald Trump delivered another meandering and confusing speech on Monday, this time aboard the USS George Washington off the coast of Yokosuka, Japan, where he attempted to explain naval engineering and instead launched into a strange tangent about the supposed dangers of “water and magnets.”

The president, 79, was in the middle of his latest Asia tour, which the White House has billed as an effort to “reassure allies.” Yet the remarks left many sailors visibly confused and quietly exchanging glances.

At one point, Trump criticized the U.S. Navy’s advanced electromagnetic launch system and aircraft elevators, systems already in use on the newest class of carriers. Engineers and military officials have repeatedly explained that these systems speed up operations while reducing maintenance issues. But Trump insisted the real problem is water — specifically, what he believes water does to magnets.

“You take a little glass of water, you drop it on magnets, I don’t know what will happen,” Trump told the assembled sailors. “It might blow up the whole thing. Nobody talks about this. They use magnets now for the elevators, and I think it’s very dangerous.”

The president then shifted between topics, at times losing his sentence structure entirely, before asking the crowd whether they preferred “magnets or hydraulics.” Some laughed nervously. Others stayed silent.

A senior Navy engineer who was present, but asked not to be named, said afterward, “Magnets don’t break because of a glass of water. That is… not how physics works.” He added that Navy leadership had not requested a return to older steam and hydraulic systems.

The speech once again drew attention to Trump’s long-running fixation on magnets. In recent years, the president has repeatedly floated a conspiracy that China manipulated global industry into relying on magnetic technologies.

Back in August, he told supporters that “China secretly took over magnets” and suggested the technology was forced upon the world. Historians, however, point out that magnets were being used for navigation in China more than 2,000 years ago — an irony lost on the president.

Trump also casually revealed on Monday that he underwent an MRI earlier this year, a medical scan that uses strong magnetic fields. The White House had notably declined to discuss that previously.

“They had me in this big machine, the biggest magnet you’ve ever seen,” Trump said. “They don’t tell you that part.”

Medical professionals say MRI scans are standard procedures and that there is nothing unusual — or secretive — about them.

Following his remarks, Trump vowed to sign an executive order reversing years of naval modernization and requiring the military to return to steam-powered catapult systems and hydraulic elevators.

“We’re going to go back to what works,” Trump said. “Steam for the catapults. Hydraulic for elevators. That’s what we’re going to do.”

Defense analysts say such a directive would cost billions and potentially set back U.S. military readiness by decades.

“It would be like forcing the Air Force to put propellers on fighter jets because the president doesn’t like jet engines,” said Dr. Aaron Ellis, a defense modernization researcher at Georgetown University. “This is not about technology. This is about the president not understanding the technology.”

Meanwhile, sailors aboard the USS George Washington were left trying to interpret the speech.

“He talked more about glasses of water than the mission,” one sailor remarked afterward. “We just kind of nodded.”

Trump is expected to continue his tour in Tokyo on Tuesday. The White House declined to answer questions about whether the president’s remarks reflected upcoming policy changes.