- I was going to write an article on the relative drag coefficients of electric cars, since it relates to their efficiency. When I drive or look at sports cars, I appreciate their slipstream forms. They range from the best at 0.2 to the worst, of about 1.15, which must be just pushing a wall, like a cube or short cylinder. But being burdened with Trump Anxiety for the last week, I realized that this could be applied to Trump.
No, I don’t mean Trump’s physical size. Especially, since his belt size must be the most highly classified top secret in the White House, and buried in the coded server in the basement, along with Trump’s secret phone calls to Putin, which Putin knows all about because he was on the line.
I also don’t mean the drag coefficient of Air Force One, used mainly to fly Trump to his Florida castle, or golf courses, or campaign rallies, or photo shoots with the world’s worst dictators.
What I do mean is the political disruption left, as cars do to the air, as Trump speeds through the world’s affairs. Just giving Trump the maximum of 1, under physical laws, is insufficient. Trump proves every day that the laws of the nation and of man are no constrains on him. Since many believe that he is the “chosen one”, popular movies would suggest that he is also not constrained by physical laws, either.
Trump also would not accept a drag rating that was only the maximum that other Presidents or objects could reach. So I was going to give him the drag rating of 2. However, Trump’s disruption are an order of magnitude greater than anybody else’s have been. That can only be described by a drag coefficient of a Perfect 10.
For his cross section, we have to multiply by the 4,000 political appointees, who labor daily as lobbyists for the fossil fuel industries or others intending to directly influence their departmental policies, and to remove government regulations.
Then there are the 53 Republicans in the Senate, and the loud or speed talking Republican Representatives, who dominate the Intelligence, Oversight, or Judiciary committees.
I think that the Department of Defense learned never to present to the President the most disruptive and ridiculous options, because that is exactly where Trump will go. Trump must be confusing creative so-called “disruptive” industries, with actually disruptive government actions. Trump always acts so that he becomes the center of attention, and looks for amazing praise.
Do I actually have to give examples of this? Let’s just take what is on the news as I type this. The briefers went to the Senate and House, and couldn’t give any convincing or factual descriptions of an impending attack that would necessitate the killing of Soleimani. Then the Majority leader of the Senate implies that it is not the time, in the present war, to impeach the President, or to delay impeaching the President, take your pick. This is how McConnell stole Obama’s Supreme Court choice. It’s also not the time to debate the new war with Iran. There is also the amazing coincidence of the sudden crash of the Ukrainian Boeing 737 just as it was taking off and in the range of any projectiles. In the important issue of climate change, McConnell would probably prevent action based on the emergency of the earth warming, and therefore it is not the time to act on it.
Trump has maximally disrupted trade regulated with old trade agreements, and hasn’t resolved any of them. He disrupted the UN, NATO, opposition to Putin’s aggression, combatting climate change, etc. As consumers, we do pay a large part of the tariffs. Another part may come from lowering the profits of US companies manufacturing in other countries.
We note that the drag force of disruption is also proportional to the Area, and the square of the velocity. As the leader of the largest economy and greatest military force, Trump has an enormous effective area. The disruption is also large because of the enormous speed in which he acts, or demands action, or changes his mind, or corrects his cabinet, who try to make sense of his Tweets. Trump’s cabinet does not really walk back Trump’s Tweets, they are running them backwards as fast as they can, after which, Trump trips them up, and then doubles down.
