By Jim Heffernan
I’ve been thinking a lot about Donald Trump and his “giant faucet” that will solve all of California’s water problems. I can’t help it, maybe it’s a curse.
I’ve wondered if it’s really something he said or if it’s some sort of hoax. I’m pretty sure it’s real, even if it hasn’t drawn near the attention of Haitians eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.
I can’t remember where I first heard of it. On September 13, 2024, Donald Trump gave a 67 minute press conference at his Palo Verdes golf course. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ4_-sRtFZQ) 61 minutes into the conference, he launches into a marvelous magical thinking tale of a giant faucet “up north.” He promises that if we vote for him, he will mandate that we just turn this faucet and all of California’s water problems will be solved.
If you don’t want to wade through the whole news conference, you can go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYZbz6bfsAU you will just get the last 6 minutes of the conference where he talks about the imaginary faucet. I have my questions about the short clip. You can’t scroll to the end of the comments and they’re all buying into the lie. Have we really become that gullible? I don’t think so. I suspect the hand of AI manufactured the comments.
The “giant faucet” does not exist except in Donald Trumps mind. When he talks about it, he does his “accordian hands” gesture throughout his explanation. I shall always be grateful for his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, sharing with us that the “accordian hands” gesture is Donald’s “tell” that he’s lying.
The thing that boggles me is that this outrageous lie gets no coverage by the New York Times or the Washington Post. It got generous coverage in Canada, but only minor posts on Forbes Breaking News and CSpan. Is this “sanewashing”?
My big hope is that now that I have it down on paper, I can chase the image out of my mind.
As always, discussion welcome at codger817@gmail.com
