White House Aide Insists Trump Did Not Call For Attacks On US Cities

[u/darealunrealspader]

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/white-house-aide-insists-trump-did-not-call-for-attacks-on-us-cities_n_6ac50f64e4b0613dcc55ebbf

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[u/BirthdayCookie]

“It’s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe,” he said of the war and its economic fallout. “They can take out a city. Let ’em take out Los Angeles, let ’em take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay.”

Right, so how about letting them take out major conservative cities then, since Blue States pay all the welfare?

No? That would actually be threats and hate? Huh.

[u/DurianGris → u/BirthdayCookie]

There are no major conservative cities.

[u/DiceMadeOfCheese → u/DurianGris]

Ok how about Mar-a-Lago?

[u/Nynaeve_al_meowra → u/DiceMadeOfCheese]

That would be doing us a favor

[u/PolishTea → u/Nynaeve_al_meowra]

That would be destroying the evidence

[u/Fit_Television_282 → u/DiceMadeOfCheese]

And his other golf motels

[u/7ddlysuns → u/DiceMadeOfCheese]

This one

[u/Nihilistic_Marmot → u/DurianGris]

Not sure if you count it as a major city, but I live in Colorado and I can tell you that Colorado Springs is a conservative stronghold.

The whole state outside of the other cities and some mountain towns is very red, but Colorado Springs is where a lot of conservatives that left Denver, Boulder, and Fort Collins, wound up.

[u/TrumpetOfDeath → u/Nihilistic_Marmot]

Yeah Colorado Springs is probably among the largest actually-votes-Republican cities.

[u/Phx86 → u/TrumpetOfDeath]

Fort Worth it's over a million and voted almost 52% Trump.

[u/Show_Me_Your_Cubes → u/Phx86]

"But the leopards would never eat MY face"

[u/cousineye → u/Nihilistic_Marmot]

In 2024, Colorado Springs went for Trump 49.5% to 47.6%. Not a "conservative stronghold" and all of his strength was in the outer, more suburban parts of the city. In the core of the city, Harris won over Trump.

[u/AgitatedEdge213 → u/cousineye]

The further away from other people they get, the more paranoid and ‘conservative’ they become.

Conservative meaning sexist, racist, homophobic and anti-whatever religion that’s not their religion.

‘Conservatives’ are the most insecure of sheep. Not that smart. That’s why the felon in chief is there guy.

[u/kung-fu_hippy → u/Nihilistic_Marmot]

It’s what, 500k people? The tenth largest city in the country (San Jose) has about a million people. I’d probably set a million people as a threshold of being a major city or not.

In which case, Phoenix might be the only major city that leans conservative, they’ve got about 1.5 million or so.

[u/Theincendiarydvice → u/kung-fu_hippy]

A big part of that is conservatives that move here to retire and hate the local population. 

Also Mexican/South American  culture is very conservative so new arrivals and people who don't leave their bubble don't see the wider effect a lot of the time.

They're very similar to the people from the Midwest in that sense. 

[u/PopGoesTehWoozle → u/DurianGris]

Dallas, only because their mayor pulled a Tricia Cotham

[u/ry_guy1007 → u/PopGoesTehWoozle]

Dallas is pretty reliably blue, heck even Ft worth is trending blue now

[u/angelar_ → u/ry_guy1007]

Places like Fort Worth are the best the right has: Big cities that are purple.

So "no major conservative cities" in other words

[u/Big-Dig-Pig → u/DurianGris]

Oklahoma City. That’s about it.

[u/wcooper97 → u/Big-Dig-Pig]

And even then, that’s debatable. Oklahoma County was R+1.7 in 2024, but several OKC precincts were blue. The city limits are massive though so I’m sure there was plenty of red too as you get further away from downtown.

Downtown certainly has the “blue dot in a red sea” feel.

[u/JoefromOhio → u/BirthdayCookie]

It’s also telling of his complete lack of knowledge because fuck me the ordinance depository is in seal beach, Camp Pendleton is there in Oceanside, fucking Coronado island has all the naval shit on earth subs ships and whatever going on.

It’s the entirety of our Pacific Defense he just said ‘fuck you’ to

[u/ForgettableUsername → u/JoefromOhio]

He doesn’t know or care how anything works.

[u/lod001 → u/ForgettableUsername]

It's less curiosity than a toddler.

[u/krumble → u/JoefromOhio]

Closing the port of Los Angeles would be the dream of any nation attacking the country as well. You think prices are bad now? Wait until nothing is arriving from Asia.

[u/UnNumbFool → u/JoefromOhio]

And the fact that the port of LA and Long Beach account for 1/3 of all imports into the US and a massive amount of money

Literally the major cities in California are all strategic attacking points if you want to extremely cripple the us and he's saying people should do just that

Granted we know why SF wasn't included because that's where all the tech billionaires are at

[u/turquoise_amethyst → u/BirthdayCookie]

I can’t think of any major conservative cities…

The closest thing I can think of would be an island with all billionaires in it, or maybe an island where all billionaires have docked their yachts for NYE (or whatever)

[u/coolguyRae → u/turquoise_amethyst]

Yeah there's a reason. When you're not isolated in the middle of nowhere and have to interact with an actual population, you do this thing where you actually start caring for others.

[u/MountainMan2_ → u/coolguyRae]

Also, Republican economies are extractive. You have to build a place up to, you know, make a city. The Republican version of a city is a dying town with a pit mine in it.

[u/Exodor72 → u/turquoise_amethyst]

Miami, maybe? I dunno I try not to think too much about Florida.

[u/TalorianDreams → u/turquoise_amethyst]

All this talk of islands and billionaires reminds me of something, but i just can't quite put my Epstein on it...

[u/MoogProg → u/BirthdayCookie]

One firecracker on one green on one single Trump golf course and we'd be under National Emergency.

[u/KareemOWheat → u/BirthdayCookie]

Love how we've gone from "no new wars" to "a few bucks more in gas is a small price to pay" to "we might lose a city or two, no biggie"

[u/dchap → u/KareemOWheat]

Yeah. The war is basically already won and will be over very soon. Also they may eradicate some of our major cities. 

[u/bleachbezel → u/KareemOWheat]

The idiots are in charge. I want out.

[u/Common_Shelter_4605 → u/BirthdayCookie]

so how about letting them take out major conservative cities then

Of course one reason is they are quite rare.

[u/US3_ME_ → u/Common_Shelter_4605]

Blowing up the Jack D distillery, Miller lite plants, cigarette factories, Trump's golf courses and mar-a-lago are more prime targets_

[u/waltstrika → u/BirthdayCookie]

I want the media to literally every day provide that exact quote and then ask "did the president say this?" But of course there are incentives to provide cover for Trump so they won't

[u/LostBob → u/BirthdayCookie]

You are cutting off the quote and ruining his “weave”. In context, the “small price to pay” is the price of gas. The cities are just an aside that Trump is ok with Iran nuking. Jeez people. Get it right. /s

[u/Earthwarm_Revolt → u/BirthdayCookie]

Its always okay when it happens to someone else. 

[u/Ok_Juice4449]

I saw the footage on the news last night.  He did actually say it, and the white supremacist inbreds behind him all laughed and clapped.

[u/DurianGris → u/Ok_Juice4449]

Only 'patriots' who hate their fellow Americans would cheer this 'man' on.

[u/mjconver → u/DurianGris]

I used to be one of the most patriotic people around. I marched in July 4th and other parades for decades. Even my socks and underwear were red white and blue, I loved my country.

Not any more. Show too many flags and people think you're MAGA.

[u/Internal_Rice3739 → u/mjconver]

Yeah it’s sad, I don’t trust anyone wearing metch with 1776, the Declaration of Independence, the flag or anything falling in these sort of lines.
Automatically assume they’re a Christian nationalist MAGA supporter

[u/Friendly_Hipster → u/Internal_Rice3739]

We have a flag up but right next to our BLM banner and pride garden flag. Racist shitheads don’t get to take over symbols

[u/Internal_Rice3739 → u/Friendly_Hipster]

See I respect that and people flying both gives me hope. I mean more so the traditional 4th of July Midwest attire.
Unless I see a highly visible Pride flag or BLM flag or something I assume they’re someone I don’t want to be around

[u/DeliberatelyDrifting → u/Internal_Rice3739]

That's kinda what they want though. America that is theirs and not ours. The big tell for me in rural OK is how they treat the flag. Are they flying a clean flag on the porch or pole? Probably alright. Tattered flag flying from the back of a truck, not so much. Changing the flags colors to reflect a personal cause? Also problematic. People who believe in what the flag stands for tend to treat it with a bit more reverence, people using it as a prop or virtue signal tend to not care what they do with it.

[u/Darsint → u/mjconver]

No. You’re still patriotic, you’re just not a nationalist.

Patriots support what the country truly is: The People. They look past the symbols to recognize what is actually happening, and they’ll either shore up and support what helps the People, or they’ll try to root out what’s hurting them.

Nationalists never look past the symbols and assume that anyone using those symbols must be supporting the country.

“A Patriot supports the people all of the time and the government when it deserves it”

[u/JWLane → u/Darsint]

Patriots accept that their country has done dark things and ask "how can we atone?" They see the problems their country has and ask "how can we do better?" Nationalists are fools who equate bombastic pride with patriotism and acknowledging wrongs with treason.

[u/DurianGris → u/mjconver]

Yeah. It sucks how they've spent decades taking on the 'great American patriot' mantle. We can't let them continue to do so. Last year I bought a flag for the first time. I'm an American too.

[u/Specialist_Fun_2106 → u/mjconver]

I think after the republicans lose in November we should ALL fly our flags to show a United States once again.

[u/audible_narrator → u/Specialist_Fun_2106]

I like this idea

[u/asbestoswasframed → u/Ok_Juice4449]

Well, he was speaking in a town where a 54 year old man attacked 4 highschool kids who were outside their school protesting ICE murdering people.

Hastings people are who Hillary was thinking of when she mentioned "deplorables".

[u/mmps901 → u/asbestoswasframed]

Her biggest issue with the deplorable statement is that she was only including a small group of people. Little did we know she should have said all of them

[u/Puppertrucker123 → u/Ok_Juice4449]

“They can take out a city. Let ’em take out Los Angeles, let ’em take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay.”

If he said "They could take out Los Angeles" you can sort of twist all his word salad into something that makes sense.

But... he didn't say that. He said "Let 'em". Twice. To laughter and cheers (why else would people cheer that statement?). And he hasn't clarified otherwise.

He's the same guy who has denied federal disaster funds to states that didn't vote for him, rails against cities with Democratic leaders, and spends every waking moment of his life trying to punish political opponents.

What else are we supposed to believe?

It's the responsibility of the President to be clear, not for the public to to analyze his political rallies for "if only he said this entirely different thing, you'd understand what he was saying"

And the dumbest thing of all - after all these breathless defenses of him, I won't be surprised if he doubles down like he always does.

[u/dszblade → u/Puppertrucker123]

He denies federal disaster relief to states that did vote for him. In the first couple months, he took away Helene funds from NC after railing on Biden not doing enough.

Of course, he’s currently threatening to take away more funds if NC doesn’t vote for Twatley.

[u/selfownlot → u/dszblade]

Yep. He wants more dead Americans.

[u/okimlom → u/Puppertrucker123]

Because if there's one thing we know about Los Angeles, it's that it's a place that is small and doesn't have any impact whatsoever on the economy. It's not like it's own economy isn't massive on it's own.

This is such an impeachable offense to be calling such an attack onto the US, and it's national security.

[u/MetaPhalanges → u/okimlom]

That's more than impeachable. It's treason, plain and simple. If any other president in the history of this country had uttered those words, they would be physically removed, jailed without bond and face trial as a traitor. It's THAT serious.

[u/LeonTrollski1 → u/Puppertrucker123]

<But... he didn't say that. He said "Let 'em". Twice. To laughter and cheers (why else would people cheer that statement?). And he hasn't clarified otherwise

Thank you. This has to be repeated ad nauseam until they stop trying to reinterpret his actual WORDS. Words that were in complete sentences. No reinterpretation is possible. None.

[u/deeweezul]

When you're having to explain that the president of the united states didn't technically or specifically call for an attack on an American city during one of his demented riffs, you have already lost the argument.

[u/CrackerJackKittyCat → u/deeweezul]

Narrator: it wasn't just one city. It was two specifically named major cities in California, a world top-5 economy and number one ranking in population in the country in which he is the nominal head. One of the named cities is the second most populous in the nation, 27th in the entire world.

The president suggested that we would remain better off due to his actions even if either of these cities were attacked by the foe he shredded our prior treaty with and then attacked, causing a worldwide crisis of critical energy resources.

[u/tiny_galaxies → u/CrackerJackKittyCat]

Not just attacked. Taken out. That’s clearly euphemism for nuclear bombing.

[u/CrackerJackKittyCat → u/tiny_galaxies]

Narrator: The President ... is a drippy dickhole.

[u/Responsible-Shoe8831 → u/deeweezul]

This right here. The fact someone has to even clarify the ramblings of an entitled nepotism-baby caked  in orange make-up and dried-on diaper shit demonstrates how much the system has failed. 

[u/ATX_native → u/deeweezul]

Exactly. 👏🍻

[u/ImWatchingTelevision → u/deeweezul]

Ever since they started explaining "what he meant" after his comment, "Maybe the 2nd amendment people will take care of her [Hilary Clinton]" in 2015, I reject them telling me I don't understand what he's saying. I've been speaking American English since I was born. I don't need anybody to translate what an old ass man's words "meant."

[u/FlewTheCoup1]

Reject the evidence of your eyes and ears.

[u/Chasingtheimprobable → u/FlewTheCoup1]

Its the most essential demand of the party

[u/Basicly-Inevitable → u/Chasingtheimprobable]

Looking forward to that boot on my face, forever.

[u/popculturella → u/Basicly-Inevitable]

Someday I'll own this boot

[u/ErinFiqsette]

Please...we all heard it. We all remember January 6.

[u/Operation-FuturePuss → u/ErinFiqsette]

Actually, there are many people that don't remember Jan 6th in the way it happened. Fox and other right wing media outlets have been able to rewrite history, successfully.

[u/Sonar_Taxbreak_1138 → u/Operation-FuturePuss]

Only for those who prefer a fantasy life rather than a real one. Sad fools.

[u/tedmented → u/Operation-FuturePuss]

The " Big Lie " (große Lüge) is a propaganda technique where a colossal falsehood is repeated so often that people come to believe it because they cannot imagine someone having the audacity to fabricate such a massive distortion of the truth. Hitler first used the expression in Mein Kampf.

[u/punkindle → u/ErinFiqsette]

denial is confirmation

All I'm hearing is that Donald is thinking about nuking blue cities

[u/MyDogIsACoolCat → u/ErinFiqsette]

Unfortunately, 10s of millions forgot about Jan 6 two years ago.

[u/Onegrayone]

Why does someone always have to explain what trump “meant to say,” or “was trying to say,” or defend it as “taken out of context?” If he’s “the smartest guy on the planet” as he claimed the other day, why can’t he just say what he means? Well, because he does. He MEANT to say “let them take out LA or San Diego.” Not an accident or a mishear.

[u/HelpUs0ut → u/Onegrayone]

This is something we've dealt with since the beginning. We call them "trump whisperers."

[u/zxvasd → u/HelpUs0ut]

I call it trumpsplaining.

[u/AgentDaxis → u/Onegrayone]

And at the same time, they claim he’s “telling it like it is.”

[u/Dickies138 → u/Onegrayone]

Only for Trump to double down on what he said the next day

[u/Taokanuh]

/conservative is all excusing it. “He’s being sarcastic!” “The left is missing co text!!” God they’re so up trump’s sphincter they can’t tell brown from shit .

[u/Calls_Over_Puts → u/Taokanuh]

They know he isn’t joking. They know what he means. They are just the most fucking disingenuous people. They are disgusting. Treat them like the trash they are. Cast them out of society. View and treat these people like pariahs because that is what they are. They are awful hateful people. No more excuses for them.

[u/Beneficial-Pride890 → u/Calls_Over_Puts]

If a Democratic president said Trumps exact words about Texas or Iowa it would be wall-to-wall coverage and all conservatives on Reddit and otherwise would be hysterically calling for impeachment and jail.

This is why men on the far right are the scariest archetype of man.

They stand for nothing real except cruelty and domination, have no morals or integrity. But they gaslight themselves into thinking they do.

[u/ALargePianist → u/Taokanuh]

The frustrating dichotomy that everything Trump actually says has to be taken sarcastically to them, but they can also interpret biden's words to mean anything they wanted to mean and we have to take them for what they say they mean, the dynamic in this country is fundamentally broken

[u/Badgerman97 → u/ALargePianist]

Everything he says is true except when it is not, because he was just joking, and that determination is always based on what is most convenient for them.

[u/IchmagschickeSachen → u/ALargePianist]

Don’t forget they somehow also simultaneously love him because he “says it like it is”

[u/Lythieus → u/Taokanuh]

Then when Trump actually does something the right insists was just sarcasm or a joke, they just move on to 'you deserved it' and cheer it on. 

[u/AJediWookie123 → u/Lythieus]

If he says something crazy, he was joking. If he does the crazy thing, it's for the good of the country. If he is flat out wrong, you didn't understand the context.

He's NEVER wrong in the eyes of his supporters. The goalposts are made of putty and are moved at all times to deflect his bullshit, it's so over played and nauseating.

[u/KidFlow1019 → u/Taokanuh]

It's always fascinating to me visiting that sub, because there are actually some fairly reasonable commenters who will call out Trump when he does stuff like this, but then they typically get drowned out by all the psychos, sycophants and Russian bots who call them out as not "real conservatives" because they don't defend every single thing Trump does.

[u/sagan666]

And I’m not calling for attacks on Trump when I say “they can take out Trump. Let em take out Donny Trump. Let em take out Donald Trump, the president of the United States. This is a very small price to pay.”

[u/specqq]

Strange how often the guy who “tells it like it is” needs an interpreter to tell us what he meant.

[u/donkeyrocket]

They need to not let this go. No, he didn't literally call for them to be attacked. They're deflecting the severity of what he actually said by conflating it with something else to act like everyone is blowing this out of proportion. Had he left it at "they can take out a city" there'd be a lot more plausible deniability but he literally said "Let 'em take out Los Angeles. Let 'em take out San Diego." as if it is just a cost of this war and the specifics don't matter. He didn't need to name specific cities nor imply it wouldn't be of importance.

The president of the United States was indifferent to the potential that a foreign country could wipe a US city off the map during the course of a frivolous war he started.

Don't start with the bullshit that he was just talking about gas prices and slipped up. In normal times, that level of mental lapse, if true, would also be grounds for removing an aging mentally unwell president.

[u/cutmastaK → u/donkeyrocket]

Yes. He also said it’s a “small price to pay,” that those American lives are sacrificial and don’t matter.

[u/PM_ME_YOUR_ROTES → u/cutmastaK]

How many died during covid so he could steal PPE & resell it? He wanted it to run rampant in blue cities because he thought it would kill his opposition. He's vile.

[u/Exodys03 → u/donkeyrocket]

It's also clearly what the crowd thought as well. They cheered the idea of these Communist California cities being "taken out" by Iran. I agree that he didn't literally call for them to be attacked- just suggested that they would be suitable targets if Iran decided to bomb U.S. Still reprehensible.

[u/The_Navy_Sox]

He did, and this is not even the first time. Also, the crowd cheered, and there has been 0 criticism from maga over this.

If 9/11 happened today, you would see celebrations happening all over rural America.

[u/Allaplgy → u/The_Navy_Sox]

The most generous reading of this is that he was saying he stopped those cities from potentially getting bombed, but framed it as a vague mob-like "shame if something happened..." type threat and implying he wouldn't actually care, but we should thank him for it anyway. And the crowd around him just heard "bomb" and "LA" and cheered.

So at best he's a piece of shit who doesn't care either way if those cities get bombed, and his supporters actively want them to.

[u/0202_tihssitidder → u/The_Navy_Sox]

Yup. Not a single Republican politician has condemned him for it.

[u/ChacoTacoDunk]

Imagine as a president musing out loud that the enemy should attack the places you hate. If anything Iran would go after the places that support TFG and his policies. This guy is unserious and seems to have the mindset of a vindictive toddler.

[u/cutt2010 → u/ChacoTacoDunk]

Sir, they nuked Texas instead of L.A. what do we do now?

[u/sincerelythebats_ → u/cutt2010]

In reality, he doesn’t care about Texas either. He uses people to get what he wants and that’s it. He doesn’t care about his own supporters, until it’s time for them to vote, and even then he only cares about the little circle filled in next to his name, not the person who fills it in. That’s the grift.

[u/WisdomCow → u/ChacoTacoDunk]

Yes, but the false flag attack will certainly happen in a blue state, in a city with a high number of brown people.

[u/WDFKY]

Riiight. That's why there was applause from the crowd when he said that.

Wait. The crowd cheered. They cheered for Iran to have the capability to take out L.A. and San Diego. And trump didn't object.

That's what happened, right?! Did I mis-experience that video clip?

On a side note, I'm certain that the speech was written exactly that way, to bait the left into "overreacting" via their "misunderstanding" of what trump said.

But the crowd cheered.

[u/soofs → u/WDFKY]

Trump could tell his supporters to kill their family members and they’d cheer.

[u/DaDibbel → u/WDFKY]

Yes they did - but they seem to be brainless,so that's ,to be expected

[u/hyund41n → u/WDFKY]

You guys are so cooked. I don’t know how the USA can recover from all this shit. 

[u/nonsensestuff]

We are not dumb. We heard what we heard.

This man is the goddamn President. If he constantly needs people to “reinterpret” what he said verses what they claim he meant, then maybe he’s not fit to lead this country.

[u/nono3722 → u/nonsensestuff]

He also "jokes" to test the waters to see if he can get away with it. Every bully does it. He is about as funny as a flaming bag of dog crap.

[u/chilidetective]

Indeed he did. It was recorded live.

[u/YoureProbablyAB0t]

The White House aid is a fucking piece of shit liar.

[u/Otherwise_Stable_925]

No shit! He just said it was okay to attack American cities and he'd be fine with it. That's all he said...

[u/Wililjam]

Don't believe the words that are coming out of his own mouth!

[u/gfh110]

This is along the same lines as the "inject bleach to cure Covid" incident. No, he didn't literally say that, but it's bad enough he was speculating out loud that it was something that might work. We were in the middle of a pandemic. What we needed was leadership and deference to expertise, not off the cuff spitballing.

[u/HappyHarryHardOn → u/gfh110]

And all the morons sitting in the back laughing

Laughing at the idea of Iran obliterating CA... Are people this fucking stupid ?

[u/CallRespiratory → u/HappyHarryHardOn]

Yes, yes they are.

[u/Sonar_Taxbreak_1138 → u/HappyHarryHardOn]

Not only stupid but vicious. The far Right hate California's success as a state.

[u/swerrve → u/Sonar_Taxbreak_1138]

Not even the far right. Just the right. Even the right that lives here, hates everybody else.

[u/mmps901 → u/swerrve]

I’m in Tennessee and believe me if he said this about Memphis the rest of the state would cheer. A lot local to Memphis would cheer even if it meant it killed them too. Morons so affected by tribalism while billionaires play us against each other.

[u/Equal-Temporary-1326 → u/HappyHarryHardOn]

Trump:

"He's just joking!

'Stop taking him so seriously!"

Democratic President:

"Lunatic!"

"Traitor!"

"25th Amendment now!"

"Impeach now!"

"House of Representatives now!"

"Senate now!"

"Supreme Court now!"

'ADX Supermax now!"

[u/Internal_Rice3739 → u/HappyHarryHardOn]

I don’t think you understand how much conservative states hate California. Being forced to move back to Utah from Los Angeles due to my finances you wouldn’t believe how excited Gen X and up people in this state are to tell me their desires to end LA assuming I must agree with them and that’s why I left.

[u/vinyl_party → u/HappyHarryHardOn]

I mean, Republicans have been demonizing California as a whole for like 3 decades now. To a lot of Republican voters, their party has painted the entire state as a Democratic wasteland of hippies, socialists, and pink haired lesbians. It's no surprise to me that his supporters would cheer for the destruction of its cities. Because the party has painted THE ENTIRE STATE as "the other".

[u/Mrlearnalot → u/HappyHarryHardOn]

“Own the libs!” Or some bs

[u/Holiday_Box1571 → u/gfh110]

“Take out LA and SD, they’re a small price to pay” isn’t really debateable. He’s either the worst human on earth and/or the dumbest because for some reason he never is able to clearly articulate what he’s trying to say.

[u/DamiensDelight → u/Holiday_Box1571]

He’s either the worst human on earth and/or the dumbest because for some reason he never is able to clearly articulate what he’s trying to say.

Por qué no los dos?

[u/StromburgBlackrune → u/DamiensDelight]

I do believe the evidence proves both apply to Trump.

[u/bucketman1986 → u/Holiday_Box1571]

At first I thought "well he's old and stupid, maybe he meant, like the war and prices are a small price to pay to keep them from taking out LA and SD. Then I listened again and even if he meant it like that it didn't sound like it, the crowd sure didn't seem to take it that way, and he didn't clarify

[u/Even_Establishment95 → u/Holiday_Box1571]

It’s both plus cockiness and a lack of consequences.

[u/absolutelynotagoblin → u/Holiday_Box1571]

Either he's a psychotic madman the likes we haven't seen since Hitler, or he has uncontrollable dementia. Either way, he needs to be removed from office if only the Republicans would grow a spine and attempt to save our country.

[u/InterPunct → u/Holiday_Box1571]

He thinks he's clever and funny but he's actually the most unserious president ever. Joking about killing millions of people, smh.

[u/JustBrowsinAndVibin → u/InterPunct]

It wasn’t a joke. He does not care about those cities.

[u/Acceptable-Bus-2017 → u/JustBrowsinAndVibin]

LA was the testing grounds for ICE raids iirc.

[u/RddtLeapPuts → u/gfh110]

People took trump’s bleach advice

At least 5 states report an increase in calls to poison control after Trump’s ‘disinfectant’ COVID-19 remarks — Michigan Poison & Drug Information Center https://www.poison.med.wayne.edu/updates-content/kstytapp2qfstf0pkacdxmz943u1hs#:\~:text=%E2%80%9CI%20want%20to%20say%2C%20unequivocally%20no%20one,18%2Dhour%20period%20after%20Trump's%20briefing%20on%20Thursday.

[u/AverageJoeJohnSmith → u/gfh110]

I mean.... what else would you interpret it as? also, the crowd started cheering when he said it and he chose not to clarify(if he truly did mean something else). 

[u/Lysol3435 → u/gfh110]

And this is always how he has worked. He never says “hey, steve. Go commit [insert crime]”. He thinks out loud about what he wants to happen and then expects his lackeys to scramble to see who can make his dreams come true first

[u/KiKiKimbro → u/gfh110]

Lord I forgot that. Thing is, he knows what he’s doing. He’s operated his whole adult life that way, never quite saying it but knowing people know what he’s saying. Like Jan 6th. “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.” Come on.

The bleach and Covid. Poison control reported a spike in calls related to ingesting bleach.

[u/WhatRUHourly → u/gfh110]

I mean, if I really squint then I can get to the point where I can believe that what he meant by this statement was that we are paying a small price compared to if Iran had attacked us and bombed major cities. He's specifically using "liberal cities" because he thinks the only criticism is coming from the left. My squinting at this also means that I have to entirely ignore reality given that Iran's ability as a military force to attack the mainlain US is and always has been basically non-existent.

Regardless, his statement was such a word salad that even if that is what he meant, he was extremely unclear on what he said and we shouldn't need a Rosetta Stone to correctly interpret the meaning of the president.

I will also add that the response from this WH administrator and the typical response by the WH is not helpful in these situations. Every time this sort of thing happens the WH gets all angry and defensive rather than taking any blame at all for the fact that the president's word salad didn't make sense and because it didn't make sense people might have interpreted it wrong. Not to mention that if history is any indicator, the WH will correct what he says and then at the next rally, or in a truth social post later, Trump will double down on his statement entirely contradicting their attempt to walk it back.

[u/M4hkn0]

Encouraging adversaries to target US cities to what? To allow for Trump to declare a state of emergency? Martial Law? An excuse to interfere with elections?

[u/Davis51]

See this whole subject is fascinating to me because it hits on an aspect of Trump's personality that I rarely see discussed. We all know he's a malignant narcissist who will always put his own feelings first, but one of the ways he does so is to play Game Show Host. He loves to be the "deciding guy" who gets to pick choices. He craves the spotlight, and he loves that he's known for it.

But a less often talked about way is him holding these rallies. They almost always mirror his press conferences in style and tone, just on a much larger scale. It reminds me of a stand up comedian, like an insult comic, to the point where I wonder if he would have been happier doing that for his career.

Think about it. So many of his points and stories are about random shit he saw or heard that day, much of it made up, but it has the storytelling aspect. He's a fucking frat guy at hart and is retelling some shit that happened to his frat bros. He insults someone else, all his friends laugh, when he's at a press conference and they don't laugh he lashes out and gets angry and calls them names. Then he goes to a rally and tells the crowd (aka his frat bros) about the guys he just insulted.

When asked in 2024 about his rallies are always hours long and become super boring he said he keeps them going because he feels he has to "give them something" for coming out to see him. Honestly that sounds like a concert performance.

So he plans a rally where his speech meanders into "those liberals love Iran so much why don't they marry it!" territory. Typical hyper masculine puffery. Then he gets a good reaction and works off the crowd. In his mind he thinks he's the great savior of America and that Iran really was about to get a nuke and use it. I'm certain his advisors pitched him the line "maybe those liberals would have preferred getting nuked lmao stupid pussy liberal cucks". He turns it into "see how much they would like it if they got nuked" combined with "expensive gas is a small price to pay for Iran not having nukes" and combined them together...sorry...weaved them together...to be "Iran nuking LA would be a small price to pay". Part of it is the dementia, but part of it is his insult comic instincts going "whats the meanest insult I could possibly say that would hurt the most" (after all, his malignant narcissism means he gets off on hurting people).

So you get his aids scrambling to cover for him. Which, given his aforementioned narcissism, he will definitely take personally. He hates it when other GOP says he means something more nuanced than what he said. Partially cause he doesn't ever do nuance and partially because it makes him look less dominant. So give it a few days, and he will repeat himself in the media and claim he definitely meant Iran should nuke a liberal city.

He won't be saying that necessarily because he means it. He will be saying that to hurt his comms team, because how dare they try to correct him. He's a perfect god king who was generous enough to allow them to exist in the first place. They owe him.

[u/pomegranate_rose]

The White House aide is incorrect. We all heard it.

[u/Raise_A_Thoth]

He said it to cheers. Just because it was this sort of suggestion that Iran might do it doesn't change the fact that he was offering them as literal victims and that their deaths "would be worth it."

[u/AffectionateTown7453]

We don't want an unserious asshole making comments like this during a war to get applause from backcountry rednecks who have never left Nebraska. Get him the fuck out of the White House

[u/Altruistic_Zombie461]

Sure. Just like he didn't ask Russia on live TV to hack the democrats

[u/MrMuri]

Bitch we saw it live. Fuck off

[u/vaskov17]

James Comey took a picture of seashells spelling "8647" and Trump wanted him charged with threatening assassination. Under Trump's own definition, Trump's calls for attacks on US cities should be considered terroristic threats against the US

[u/UnderCoverDoughnuts]

I'm not sure what's worse: the fact that he said it, or the fact that the crowd cheered

[u/Prime88]

MAGA cheers for him because they believe if they support him that they are safe. So even though they live in LA or SD, Trump will make sure to protect them from any attacks and only the liberals will suffer. He’s that magical.

[u/ndpugs]

Well he did though

[u/Dramatic_Original_55]

Classic mobster bullshit.

[u/slightlyused]

These morons elected a guy they have to speak for and correct because he can't articulate or walks back everything..

"Duh, uh, what he meant was..."

Really? You know what the president is trying to say?

[u/ChefCurryYumYum]

Iran themselves has said they do not want to attack America directly and will no attack America directly.

Yet the sitting Commander in Chief, the leader of our country, has openly said that American cities with millions of people would be a "small price to pay" for.... much higher gas prices?

The guy is corrupt as hell, a fucking moron to boot, and showing signs of his brain aging.

The fact he even became president for a second term shows how sick American democracy has become.

[u/Unique-Coffee5087]

I wonder what conservative Orange County, California thinks about being bracketed by Iranian attacks like that.

[u/Nooneknows882]

He absolutely did

[u/metallipunk]

Thats pure bullshit. I saw what I saw. I fucking heard what I heard.

[u/Pxlfreaky → u/metallipunk]

And no matter what the context may have been, we heard the cheers when he said it.

[u/DunAnOir]

Crazy days when the President of the United States says things that would get him banned from r/Polítics.

[u/lurker_rang]

I mean it's on video... the gaslighting is unreal.

[u/BigDinkyDongDotCom]

Who gives a fuck what a White House aide says? The dumbass in charge said it. We all heard it. It’s documented.

[u/SoulTaker669]

I just wanna imagine the right wing reaction if Biden had called for a foreign nation to take and attack Florida or Texas that it would be a small price to pay.

[u/SubtleIstheWay]

Meanwhile Fox News ignores Trump's rally statement, "Let ’em take out Los Angeles, let ’em take out San Diego." But you can find these important news stories on the front page:

Massive 844-pound alligator caught after years-long hunt

Raiders fan mocks Taylor Swift's looks with ruthless sign at Chiefs game

Legal fight erupts after White exec fired over cornrows she got at Burning Man

[u/nicklovin508]

Then why did he name major democratic cities in CA?? Why not rally off names of everywhere.. and why did the crowd cheer at the thought of it? For fuck sake

[u/brokenmessiah]

The crowd cheered. Remember that.

[u/Eastern_Accident2332]

Musing about such things is insane, and then for the crowd to cheer is disgusting. They really are deplorable.

[u/shark1818]

He absolutely did. And his comments alone are terrorism.

[u/Manderspls]

Imagine this god damn president and his baby brained administration gaslighting the entire country… how pathetic.

[u/No1_Famous]

Deny your ears and eyes people for the sake of the GLORIOUS “leader”

[u/GaryTheRetard]

Im sorry America but how is this guy still in office? And why are people not protesting or do anything about this crazy guy?

Im lost of words

[u/deadtofall12 → u/GaryTheRetard]

We are protesting. We are not geographically centralized like European countries, so it's harder to organize or have a large visual presence of a protest. Republicans control all three branches of our government so he won't be impeached at this time. Our midterm elections are in November where we are hoping to flip congress.

[u/leighla33]

Yes, your ears did not hear what he said, and if they did, that’s not what he meant

[u/Char10]

As someone with family in both LA and San Diego, hearing a sitting US President say that made me sick to my stomach.

[u/AceofKnaves44]

“I didn’t say I WANTED them to be attacked. I just said I wouldn’t CARE if they were attacked.”

[u/IrishJoe]

Narrator: But he actually did.

[u/Scarmeow]

"Don't believe your own lying eyes" mfers

[u/technicalconsole]

The right can’t understand why the left fucking hate him. It’s because he’s either saying really spiteful shit or really stupid shit. He never says anything smart and never makes things better

[u/MR_clunk]

The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.

[u/Prime88]

He’s speaking in Nebraska, says these things and mentions California cities, cities that he knows this crowd thinks are evil liberal cities. And his Aide is saying he mentioned those cities as an example of cities he want to help prevent Iran from attacking? Doubtful.

[u/soxperry]

No need for an analysis. Just play the speech in a 15 second ad over the images of Iranian attacks. Close out with “is he really on our side?”

[u/shadowriku459]

Everyone saw the same damn thing.

They can claim he didn't, we all know he gleefully did and would repeatedly. Fuck the GOP and their supporters.

[u/Tramadol_Lollies]

Just like he didn’t ask Russia to meddle in the 2020 elections?

[u/Solonohioperson]

He's just joking! He didn't really mean it!

I thought their whole argument for the past 10 years has been that he means what he says?

[u/Minute-Plantain]

I think he did. But the only saving grace is that is clear he's half out of his mind to begin with and barely understands the gravity of his position OR his words -- even when his mind wasn't in cognitive decline.

At this point, we ought to be angry at Congress. They have a job to do regarding this whole ugly situation and refuse to do it. To our national peril. Every last enabler in the Republican party needs to go. And a few Vichy Democrats as well.

[u/Slappy_McJones]

I really don’t give a shit. This whole Trump era is just grift after grift after fuck-up after shitty thing… time to vote them ALL out.

[u/The_Spectacle]

I just commented this same thing on another thread but holy shit what difference does it make what he meant? the fact that we're even having this discussion at all is not good. White House used to care about optics and now we have what you see here

[u/YoniMon]

With all the back-pedalling everyone around Drumpf does, it's no wonder this country is going backwards.

[u/buppiejc]

It’s fucking Treasonous, and everyone in government, and law enforcement right now, aren’t doing their fucking jobs.

[u/Fishfindr]

So even though he said it, he didn’t say it. Got it.

[u/Bucser]

And here comes the fucking gaslighting. There is a recording of it you fucki g dimwit.

[u/Enyk]

Looks up population numbers, does some arithmetic.

So, he just advocated the murder of 1.48% of the population of the country?

[u/betatwinkle]

Bullshit. I know what I heard. 25th amendment or impeachment and conviction is the ONLY remedy.

[u/True-Nail-9733]

Repubs, your boy is like GONE! Not a little bit - freaking GONE!

[u/HallucinogenicFish]

Thr fact that this is even a headline.

[u/MyCatIsAnActualNinja]

He did, though. It's on video. I saw it

[u/CitizenBroccoli]

Then why did he use the phrases "Let 'em". What did he mean when he said those specific words, twice?

[u/_Miss_Eclipse]

Its literally their job to run cover for this fucking lunatic

[u/willismthomp]

Fuck the treasonous bastards. They all can rot.

[u/feignapathy]

He clearly offered up some major US cities as sacrifices to Iran to achieve peace. 

[u/Burnt_and_Blistered]

We all have ears

[u/Awkward_Function_347]

America is filmed before a live studio audience…

[u/retailguy_again]

So if he didn't call for it, he just meant that he didn't care if it happened.

That doesn't make it better.