pr_nik

Admittedly, that is one big issue. But from a purely political angle, Trump is trying to control the narrative to increase chances of re-election. This narrative will have to include undercounted COVID-19 fatalities, and understated economic effects of the failure to contain the pandemic. It cannot work if it is presented side-by-side with best estimates of actual numbers. Suppressing these numbers is the obvious goal here and leveraging money and political power over the legal system are the means.

The gameplan might be to build a direct connection between the vast financial resources of the republican party and their ability to influence online audiences. This has already worked quite well with the Super PACs which amount to unlimited anonymous donations to parties or candidates. This was declared legal based on the 1st amendment in 2010. The same goal could be pursued here: cite 1st amendment and rule by decree that fact-checking violates 1st amendment principles, fight it out up to the supreme court (which is firmly in republican hands) and then write it into law for the foreseeable future. In the meantime, sue social media providers for ridiculous sums if they provide fact-checking prior to the election. Technically, you still have a democracy, albeit one that is no longer united in its perception of reality.

In defense of academics resorting to such comparisons, making this tangible, exciting, accessible, and generally common sense-compatible is all the rage nowadays. The attention economy certainly rules the PR-side of academia and success there can translate into cash for basic research. Not my idea, not my style, but it's a thing.

Additionally, you need "collective pitch" control, i.e. the ability to angle the rotor blades for windmilling and then for hover flight right before touchdown. Multicopters just have fixed-pitch rotors and rely on differential torque/thrust for attitude control and ascend.

Extensive Stanford/NYU study on the severe psychological consequences of 'Living Under Drones': https://www-cdn.law.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/...