Trump erroneously says 1918 Spanish Flu 'probably ended' WWII, which happened two decades later

[tulc]

Kinda like choosing a wife knowing one has cheated 5x's and the other 132. Neither are really worthy.

Well, you might have a point if you were marrying either one of them but this is an election, not a marriage.
tulc(isn't sure timothyu's point is valid)

 

[Tom 1]

I think that he meant WWI and not 2...

That would be a better assessment.

Not near as bad as Biden's gaffs where he looks drunk, stoned, or just plain out of his mind.

Not really, the flu didn’t end WW1 either. It was pretty much over already at that point, when the flu started to kill large numbers worldwide.

 

[timothyu]

Well, you might have a point if you were marrying either one of them but this is an election, not a marriage.

You are still choosing between two people for a very important position of trust,.

 

[mindlight]

In spite of the bumble and the media pettiness, he was right about the virus ending the war for lack of healthy soldiers to die.

No the war ended cause Germany was losing on the Western front.

 

[mindlight]

Trump: 1918 Spanish Flu 'probably ended' WWII, which happened two decades apart
So...the President Said this today:

tulc(heard the 1917 pandemic may have closed all the airports during the American Revolution as well)

Clearly Trump is no historian getting dates ,wrong , associating later events with earlier ones and projecting false reasoning onto those events.

 

[Redwingfan9]

Trump: 1918 Spanish Flu 'probably ended' WWII, which happened two decades apart
So...the President Said this today:

tulc(heard the 1917 pandemic may have closed all the airports during the American Revolution as well)

He clearly meant WWI. I'm so sick of both sides jumping all over harmless mistakes, as though politicians have to be 100% perfect at all times. If we examine ourselves, we would recognize that we too make minor errors all day long. We forget names, dates, terms etc. all day long. Why are we holding politicians to a higher standard and not allowing them to correct themselves without a media frenzy?

 

[Archivist]

He clearly meant WWI. I'm so sick of both sides jumping all over harmless mistakes, as though politicians have to be 100% perfect at all times. If we examine ourselves, we would recognize that we too make minor errors all day long. We forget names, dates, terms etc. all day long. Why are we holding politicians to a higher standard and not allowing them to correct themselves without a media frenzy?

Except Trump would still have been wrong because the flu didn't end World War I.

 

[tulc]

He clearly meant WWI. I'm so sick of both sides jumping all over harmless mistakes, as though politicians have to be 100% perfect at all times. If we examine ourselves, we would recognize that we too make minor errors all day long. We forget names, dates, terms etc. all day long. Why are we holding politicians to a higher standard and not allowing them to correct themselves without a media frenzy?

Wait...President Trump admitted he made a mistake and corrected it? Do you have a link to that? Because I can honestly say I have never once heard him say he was wrong about...well anything and I'd be interested in seeing that.
tulc(is just curious)

 

[SaintCody777]

Trump: 1918 Spanish Flu 'probably ended' WWII, which happened two decades apart
So...the President Said this today:

tulc(heard the 1917 pandemic may have closed all the airports during the American Revolution as well)

It was an intentional misspelling on the part of USA today just to make Trump look stupid. New York Times is already on the bandwagon of trying to twist Trump's words to make him look bad. But yet Facebook and Twitter censor people who speak plainly about hydroxychloroquine, which I had doubts on until recently.

 

[JackRT]

No, the Spanish flu (which can be traced back to Kansas) did not end WW1. If the war had lasted into 1919 it very well might have had an effect. The war was actually ended by twin offenses led by the Canadian Corps and the American Expeditionary Force.

November 11, 2018 marks the one hundredth anniversary of the end of World War I. Canada fought this war from the beginning but the last hundred days was our finest hour. It began with the Canadian Corps assault at Amiens. For the first time in four years the German defenses collapsed completely and well disciplined and battle hardened German soldiers fled for their lives. When General Ludendorf reported to the Kaiser he was asked “We have lost the war haven’t we?” Ludendorf replied “Yes sir”.

Following this, the Canadian Corps fought five more major battles back to back ending with the Pursuit to Mons where the Germans finally surrendered.

About half way through that hundred days the American Expeditionary Force began its own offensive, fighting as a unified force entirely under its own command for the first time. It is instructive to note the comparative performance of the two fighting forces:

Troops engaged:

Americans: 650,000
Canadians: 105,000

Duration of Operations:

Americans: 47 days
Canadians: 100 days

Maximum Distance Advanced:

Americans: 34 miles
Canadians: 86 miles

German Divisions Defeated:
(Out of a total of 200)

Americans: 46
Canadians: 47

Average Number of Casualties Suffered per German Division Defeated:

Americans: 2,170
Canadians: 975

Total Casualties:

Americans: 100,000 (15.4 %)
Canadians: 45,830 (43.4%)


The CC and the AEF each defeated about 25% of the German army. This puts into much better perspective the real contribution of the USA in ending the war.

 

[Hank77]

And then there's the vetting process...
All of Joe's prospects got lots of bones buried in their closets. National politics brings them out.

Have any of them committed murder? If not, then none of them have out done Trump.

 

[Redwingfan9]

Except Trump would still have been wrong because the flu didn't end World War I.

It was absolutely a contributing factor. It started in Feb. 1918. The war was one of attrition and with soldiers and workers in Germany either sick or dying of flu, it absolutely played a role in the end of the war. Especially with fresh troops coming from thr US. Is it the only factor? Of course not. Marxist revolutaries in Germany played a role as did homefront weariness over the war effort. German soldiers were underfed and the ability of Germany to keep them fed and armed was becoming more and more difficult

Interestingly, Germany was close to winning the war at the start of 1918 and had they taken Paris the war would have ended. (They were a few miles away) Despite being pushed back, the war was never fought on German soil in the west. Revolutaries at home, starving people and a deadly flu were all contributing factors to their request for an armistice.

 

[JohnDB]

Have any of them committed murder? If not, then none of them have out done Trump.

This is exactly the same kind of nonsense as Barak Obama being a Ukraine National...
Or Yemen that was promoted by the Republicans.
It's nuts stuff like this that turns everyone off of politics.

It's garbage politics.

Nobody except the most entrenched politicos even wants to hear this kind of thing or actually believes it. It's what gives the term "politician" a bad name.

 

[Hank77]

It was an intentional misspelling on the part of USA today just to make Trump look stupid.

It's all on video, no one misprinted what he said.

 

[Redwingfan9]

Wait...President Trump admitted he made a mistake and corrected it? Do you have a link to that? Because I can honestly say I have never once heard him say he was wrong about...well anything and I'd be interested in seeing that.
tulc(is just curious)

I'll provide that link when you post a link of Obama apologizing for saying there are 57 states. Quite frankly, there is no need to apologize for an obvious slip of the tongue.

 

[archer75]

He clearly meant WWI. I'm so sick of both sides jumping all over harmless mistakes, as though politicians have to be 100% perfect at all times. If we examine ourselves, we would recognize that we too make minor errors all day long. We forget names, dates, terms etc. all day long. Why are we holding politicians to a higher standard and not allowing them to correct themselves without a media frenzy?

There shouldn't be a frenzy over a slip of the tongue, but they're held to a higher standard because they get paid to be public servants who are expected to have at least a basic grasp of the history of the country, world leaders, other matters important to their job.

 

[Hank77]

And then there's the vetting process...
All of Joe's prospects got lots of bones buried in their closets. National politics brings them out.

Have any of them committed murder? If not, then none of them have outdone Trump.

This is exactly the same kind of nonsense as Barak Obama being a Ukraine National...
Or Yemen that was promoted by the Republicans.
It's nuts stuff like this that turns everyone off of politics.

It's garbage politics.

Nobody except the most entrenched politicos even wants to hear this kind of thing or actually believes it. It's what gives the term "politician" a bad name.

Excuse me? You're the one who brought up bones in these women's closets.
If Trump was a viable candidate with all his closet bones than surely they are. None of them come anywhere close to Trump's messy closet.

 

[Archivist]

It was absolutely a contributing factor. It started in Feb. 1918. The war was one of attrition and with soldiers and workers in Germany either sick or dying of flu, it absolutely played a role in the end of the war. Especially with fresh troops coming from thr US. Is it the only factor? Of course not. Marxist revolutaries in Germany played a role as did homefront weariness over the war effort. German soldiers were underfed and the ability of Germany to keep them fed and armed was becoming more and more difficult

Interestingly, Germany was close to winning the war at the start of 1918 and had they taken Paris the war would have ended. (They were a few miles away) Despite being pushed back, the war was never fought on German soil in the west. Revolutaries at home, starving people and a deadly flu were all contributing factors to their request for an armistice.

But, as I said, the flu did not end World War I. A factor? Yes, but the flu hit both sides. Fresh US troops and US victories in the Battle of St. Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive did much more to bring about the end of the war. Even if Trump had said World War I he would have been wrong.

 

[Redwingfan9]

There shouldn't be a frenzy over a slip of the tongue, but they're held to a higher standard because they get paid to be public servants who are expected to have at least a basic grasp of the history of the country, world leaders, other matters important to their job.

I'm okay with a higher standard but not over this sort of trivial slip of the tongue. We all knew what he meant.

 

[Redwingfan9]

But, as I said, the flu did not end World War I. A factor? Yes, but the flu hit both sides. Fresh US troops and US victories in the Battle of St. Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive did much more to bring about the end of the war. Even if Trump had said World War I he would have been wrong.

I think it's a matter of open debate. People can discuss and debate the end of the war and reach different conclusions. I happen to think there were many reasons for the armistice but I have no problem with other people disagreeing and even limiting ending factors to one or two things or events. We ought to be able to have a robust discussion and draw our own conclusions.