Donald Trump Appears To Claim That An American Invented The Wheel, Also Says Elon Musk ‘Does Good At Rockets’
In a lengthy CNBC interview from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Donald Trump praised such American inventors and innovators as Elon Musk and Thomas Edison — but also appeared to say that it was an American who invented the wheel.
“We have to protect Thomas Edison and we have to protect all of these people that came up with originally the light bulb and the wheel and all of these things,” Trump told CNBC, adding that Musk is “one of our very smart people.”
But while Thomas Edison was indeed American, and is generally given credit for inventing the incandescent light bulb, the inventor of the wheel remains unknown. In fact, according to the site LiveScience, the wheel was invented in approximately 3,500 B.C., or roughly 5,500 years ago — more than 52 centuries prior to the founding of the United States of America.
But the person or persons who invented the wheel has not been identified in any historical record. Nor do scientists know where the wheel was first created. The earliest known images of carts on wheels have been found in the region that is now Poland, causing scientists to believe that the wheel was likely invented somewhere in northern Europe or Asia. This belief is contrary to what was previously believed, that the wheel originated in Mesopotamia — an ancient civilization located in an area that is now covered mostly by Iraq.
Trump seems to believe the wheel was invented in the United States: "We have to protect all of these people that came up with, originally, the light bulb and the wheel and all of these things." pic.twitter.com/re6CyRi6HY
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 22, 2020
Because the wheel was invented thousands of years ago, it would be in the public domain and not covered by patent laws of the United States or any country, meaning that Trump is unable to do anything to “protect” the long-dead inventor.
But Trump did say that Musk, a former member of Trump’s economic advisory council who was born in South Africa but holds U.S. citizenship, deserves protection because he is “one of our great geniuses, and we have to protect our genius,” as quoted by CNBC. In addition to Musk’s creation of the Tesla auto company — an innovator in the development of electricity-driven automobiles — Trump cited Musk’s involvement in private space flight.
“He’s also doing the rockets. He likes rockets,” Trump said. “And he does good at rockets, too, by the way.”
Trump added that Musk’s rocket engines “come down with no wings, no anything, and they’re landing.”
The odd statements in his CNBC interview came after Trump delivered an address to the Davos forum, in which he made a series of false and questionable claims, as reported by the BBC.
Among those claims, Trump said that the United States is in the midst of an economic “boom” that has never been seen before in the world. In fact, the economic growth rate during Trump’s term has hovered between 2 and 3 percent, according to the BBC. Under President Bill Clinton, the annual growth rate reached 4 percent, while in 2014, under Trump’s predecessor, President Barack Obama, growth hit 5.5 percent, nearly twice the top growth rate under Trump.
