Boy, it sure is crazy that Donald Trump is running for president! Especially since that dude is always saying such crazy things all the time -- racist things, homophobic things, delusional things and, of course, things that are entirely divorced from science.
Mother Jones rounded up 13 stellar examples of the latter from Trump's Twitter account, which he used to espouse supremely uninformed opinions about climate change, the non-existent link between vaccines and autism and last summer's Ebola outbreak -- or, as they call it, his "unique blend of anti-science nonsense."
But we can't help but wonder: does Trump's brand of crazy actually stand out in a field of general GOP nuttiness? Or are Trump's anti-science statements just variations on a prevailing theme, delivered by someone who, even compared to the other Republican presidential contenders, is particularly easy to mock?
See for yourself: can you figure out which of the below quotes (all of which have been refuted by doctors, scientists and other actual experts) belong to Trump, and which were voiced by his opponents?
1. "Any and all weather events are used by the GLOBAL WARMING HOAXSTERS to justify higher taxes to save our planet! They don't believe it $$$$!"
2. "There are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects."
3. "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive."
4. “I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our climate the way these scientists are portraying it. And I do not believe that the laws that they propose we pass will do anything about it, except it will destroy our economy.”
5. "For the people to say the science [on climate change] is decided on this is really arrogant, to be honest with you."
6. "Today the global warming alarmists are the equivalent of the flat-earthers. You know it used to be: 'It is accepted scientific wisdom the Earth is flat.' And this heretic named Galileo was branded a denier."
7. “The volcano that erupted over in Northern Europe [in 2010] actually poured more CO2 into the air in that single act of nature than all of humans have in something like the past 100 years.”
8. “I’ve heard many tragic cases of walking, talking normal children who wound up with profound mental disorders after vaccines.”
9. "I am being proven right about massive vaccinations—the doctors lied. Save our children & their future."
10. Parents “need to have some measure of choice” about whether or not to vaccinate their children.
11. "The U.S. cannot allow EBOLA infected people back. People that go to far away places to help out are great-but must suffer the consequences!"
12. "If someone has Ebola at a cocktail party they're contagious and you can catch it from them."
13. "Folks that … take that step and are willing to volunteer also understand it's in their interest and in public health interest [to be quarantined for three weeks]."
14. “The doctors making this argument [that travel bans and quarantines won't stop Ebola] are working for the administration and repeating their talking points. The arguments they are giving don’t make sense.”
15. "Ebola is much easier to transmit than the CDC and government representatives are admitting. Spreading all over Africa-and fast. Stop flights"
16. "I'm running for president."
Answer key: 1. Donald Trump 2. Rick Perry 3. Donald Trump 4. Marco Rubio 5. Jeb Bush 6. Ted Cruz 7. Mike Huckabee 8. Rand Paul 9. Donald Trump 10. Chris Christie 11. Donald Trump 12. Rand Paul 13. Chris Christie 14. Ted Cruz 15. Donald Trump 16. All of them. Oh my.
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