CNN’s fact-checker encouraged critics to pump the brakes on a misleading clip of President Donald Trump.
The video, taken from a recent rally where the president was speaking, was cut and posted to X by “Headquarters,” a Kamala Harris-linked account. It purports to show Trump implying he is okay with Iran taking out large blue cities like Los Angeles and San Diego.
Watch:
Trump on Iran: Let ’em take out Los Angeles and San Diego, it’s a small price to pay https://t.co/Fc4BcjVDKj
— Headquarters (@HQNewsNow) October 6, 2026
But Daniel Dale argued that this isn’t the sinister moment that Democrats want it to be, even though he couldn’t resist taking a shot at the president to remind X users whose side he’s on.
Look:
This isn’t a direct quote from Trump, and I very much don’t think it’s a correct paraphrase. 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. Last night, in especially rambling and incomplete fashion, he 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 city being wiped out.
It’s Trump’s fault you kinda have to be steeped in TrumpRallySpeak to know what he was saying last night, and of course you can say it’s inappropriate regardless for the president to casually float the possibility of a city being wiped out, but the context exists and is important.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) October 6, 2026
“This isn’t a direct quote from Trump, and I very much don’t think it’s a correct paraphrase. 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. Last night, in especially rambling and incomplete fashion, he 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 city being wiped out,” Dale explained. “It’s Trump’s fault you kinda have to be steeped in TrumpRallySpeak to know what he was saying last night, and of course you can say it’s inappropriate regardless for the president to casually float the possibility of a city being wiped out, but the context exists and is important.”
That didn’t satisfy X users:
Why single out LA and San Diego then? And why did the crowd cheer when he said that? And who gives an F if he meant something different – we shouldn’t have to be fluent in “Trump speak” to know what the hell he’s saying.
— Jon Rosado (@JonRosado7) October 6, 2026
Oh please. Senility aside, he singled out LA and SD and suggested if they were taken out, it would be a small price to pay. The fact that his brain is faulty and his processing and oration is garbled is true, but a different point.
— The Shallow State (@OurShallowState) October 6, 2026
Stop trying to defend the indefensible.
That rhetoric by the sitting President of The United States is unbecoming of the office.
Full stop.
— Jeya🐳 (@RocDocs13) October 6, 2026
I shouldn’t have to have speak fucking Trump and have Twitter explain to me his statements HES THE PRESIDENT OF THE FUCKING UNITED STATES you’re telling me it’s too much to ask him to properly say what he fucking means when he steps up to the podium?
— Jolly (@Jolly2026) October 6, 2026
Nobody needs a translation from Trump to English. He said what he said. Nobody mentally sane would say such a thing as our President. And certainly nobody sane would start an illegal war without Congress, like he did, twice, then brag about it.
— Grant Stern (@grantstern) October 6, 2026
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to write. Marlee also contributes to BizPac Review.
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