Surely every president in American history has been the target of hoaxes and fabricated stories about them concocted by their detractors – Republican presidents, Democrat presidents, and even those men who occupied the White House before the Democratic and Republican parties existed. President Donald Trump has probably broken the mold, though, as he has in so many other ways. One would have to dig deep to find another president who has been lied about so often and so outrageously.
But the latest piece of anti-Trump fiction – let's call it the Iran hoax – is a doozy. And whoever came up with it, along with all those who jumped on the bandwagon to spread it around, is almost certainly regretting it.
So, what is this Iran hoax, and why is it perhaps an even more laughably silly story than the narrative from Jan. 6, 2021? No, not that the then-outgoing president attempted to stage a coup – as ridiculous as that claim was. It was Trump's opponents alleging he attempted to overpower his Secret Service detail and gain control of the presidential limousine while it was in motion.
If you thought that one was crazy, the latest is that the 47th president invited Iran to “take out” Los Angeles and San Diego, adding that it would be “a small price to pay.”
On the face of it, a remark like that coming from anyone would seem not just outrageous but unhinged. Insane, even. But Trump Derangement Syndrome is a hell of a disease, and those who suffer from it often appear to border on the unhinged and even the insane.
When someone alleges Trump said Iran should take out two of California's most famous and most populous cities, then, due diligence is immediately called for. Did those words really come out of his mouth, and if they did, in what context?
The Iran Hoax Bandwagon
California Governor Gavin Newsom was livid – or at least pretended to be. "After sending the National Guard and Marines to occupy California,” Newsom pronounced, “Donald Trump is now saying our foreign enemies should ‘take out’ Los Angeles and San Diego. He is deranged and dangerous."
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The Golden State governor, ever hungry for publicity, especially because he appears to think he has a shot at being president in 2028, took his pearl-clutching to the social media platform X. “An American president is talking about Los Angeles and San Diego being 'taken out.' Where the hell is Congress? This is dangerous. The time to stand up is NOW.”
Newsom's probable successor, Xavier Becerra, was quick not to be outdone. "Thirteen million Californians call LA and San Diego counties home. Their lives are not a ‘small price to pay’ or a punchline for Donald Trump," he said.
The phony outrage poured in from all directions. CNN pundits, multiple elected Democrats, and Jimmy Kimmel were among the many Trump-haters who obviously thought to themselves, as they have so many times before, "Aha! We've got him now!"
A statement was even thrown together and signed by 43 members of Congress from California. None of it is worth quoting.
Trump in Context
What did President Trump really say in his admittedly sometimes disjointed and meandering way of expressing an idea? Speaking at a rally in Nebraska on Oct. 5, Trump was essentially asking for patience from the American people as gas and grocery prices remain high. “It’s a little bit high,” he told the crowd. “It’s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe – keeping our country safe. [Iran] can take out a city. Let ’em take out, let ’em take out Los Angeles; let ’em take out San Diego. That’s – this is a very small price to pay, and it’s going to be over with very soon.”
It takes an obsessive hatred of Donald Trump or – as Trump himself might say – an extremely low IQ to hear those remarks in the context of the larger point the president was making and believe he was suggesting Iran should nuke Los Angeles or San Diego.
The pushback against this ridiculous Iran hoax came from a couple of unlikely sources. CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale, almost always critical of the president, took issue with the X account @HQNewsNow, connected to losing 2024 presidential candidate Kamala Harris. The account cherry-picked one part of the president’s remarks without providing any context, naturally: “Trump on Iran: Let ’em take out Los Angeles and San Diego, it’s a small price to pay”
Dale retorted, “Trump has repeatedly argued that the consequences of the war, like higher gas prices, are a small price to pay compared to what an unchecked Iran could allegedly do.” He went on to provide some context, pointing out that the president spoke in what he thought – perhaps fairly – was an “especially rambling and incomplete fashion.”
Dale’s accurate – if also somewhat disjointed – interpretation of what the president said and clearly meant:
“[Trump] 1) claimed high prices are temporary and suggested they’re “artificial”; 2) contrasted that to the damage of Iran supposedly taking out a city; 3) and then, in especially confusing style, repeated his old point that ‘this,’ as in the consequences of the war, is a small price to pay to avoid something like a a [sic] city being wiped out.”
Michael Scherer, who writes for The Atlantic, also chimed in on X with some common sense. "Trump's point here is that if he didn't start a war with Iran, then San Diego and LA would be at risk from nuclear war."
Some wanted to know why Trump appeared to single out Los Angeles and San Diego for destruction. Quite simply, if Iran fired one or more nuclear-armed ballistic missiles at the US mainland and any of them were to make it that far, they would be incoming from west to east. So, they would fly across the Pacific Ocean, and their most likely targets would be major West Coast American cities.
The Peril of Going Too Far
To recap, then: High gas prices are “a small price to pay” for ensuring Iran can never fire nuclear missiles at the US. And if it ever did, Los Angeles and San Diego would likely be primary targets.
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Whether one chooses to believe the “small price to pay” argument or not – whether one supports or opposes Trump’s war on Iran – it remains clear to anyone with more than a few ounces of gray matter that this is obviously the point Trump was making.
Of course, no one is buying the Iran hoax. Not even those who are promoting it. If elected Democrats and left-wing activists truly believed that the American president had called for one of our greatest enemies to wipe out an American city, they would already have mobilized their rent-a-mob, and American streets would be flooded with thousands and probably millions of people calling for the president's removal. And yet all we really have is some fabricated outrage that's good for soundbites and fundraising for the midterm elections, but it's obvious to any reasonably astute observer that this is all nothing more than theater.
The left may have miscalculated because this Iran hoax is such an obviously asinine play that Republicans and conservatives could be reminded how far the left is willing to go to obtain political power. That could be a motivating factor. The November midterms may see a higher turnout than normal – and perhaps that will not be a good thing for Democrats.
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