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Address to service members · 2025-10-28

USS George Washington: Trump Asks Sailors to Choose Steam or Electric

Yokosuka, Japan

About this speech

Addressing sailors aboard an aircraft carrier, Trump criticized electromagnetic catapults and magnetic elevators and asked the audience to compare them with older technologies.

What stands out in this speech

The remarks mixed technical procurement questions with informal crowd polling and another assertion about water and magnets.

A procurement pledge
“we’re gonna go back to steam”

Trump made a technology preference part of a public address to service members.

Transcript location: 00:30:03

The recurring magnet error
“you take a little glass of water”

He again suggested a little water undermines magnets, conflating magnetism with potential electronics damage.

Transcript location: 00:30:41

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