The White House has a problem.
Donald Trump said something about Iran “taking out” Los Angeles and San Diego.
People heard it. The video went viral.
And now the White House is scrambling to explain what Trump supposedly meant, while blaming the media for airing the video of him saying it.
Because apparently the problem isn’t what Trump said.
It’s everyone else for hearing him say it.
At a campaign rally in Nebraska on Monday, Trump was talking about the rising prices associated with the war with Iran.
He described those higher costs as “a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe.”
Then he said this: “They can take out a city. Let ’em take out Los Angeles. Let ’em take out San Diego.”
The crowd cheered.
Trump then added that it was “a very small price to pay” and said the war would be over very soon.
The clip exploded across social media.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Trump had suggested allowing Iran to “take out” Los Angeles and San Diego.
California officials immediately pushed back.
Gov. Gavin Newsom called the remarks “deranged and dangerous,” while Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said Trump’s comments could potentially compromise the city’s safety. San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said his city was “not collateral damage” and “not expendable.”
As the outrage spread, the White House went into cleanup mode.
The White House Rapid Response account responded to the Los Angeles Times by accusing the newspaper of completely misunderstanding Trump’s point.
“No, he didn’t, you buffoons,” the account wrote.
According to the White House, Trump was actually saying that the United States was fighting to prevent Iran from ever acquiring the capability to destroy American cities with a nuclear weapon.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung made essentially the same argument.
“The media freakout over President Trump’s comments is not rooted in reality,” Cheung wrote, saying Trump was explaining that American cities would have been threatened if Iran had not been stopped.
The White House’s explanation is that Trump was talking about the threat that a nuclear-armed Iran could pose to American cities.
But if that was the point, Trump certainly found a strange way to make it.
He didn’t say, “We must prevent Iran from being able to attack Los Angeles.”
He said: “Let ’em take out Los Angeles. Let ’em take out San Diego.”
And then he called it “a very small price to pay.”
That’s why the White House now finds itself explaining the president’s own words. Again.
Trump’s defenders can argue that the broader context changes the meaning.
And there is evidence that the broader context matters.
But that’s not the same thing as pretending the words weren’t spoken.
They were. On video. At a campaign rally. And the crowd cheered.
Now the White House is arguing that everyone who reacted to those words simply got Trump wrong.
That’s quite a cleanup operation.
If the president’s meaning requires a White House rescue mission after the video is already circulating everywhere, that’s a pretty good indication that something went very wrong with the message.
And blaming the media isn’t going to change what everyone just watched.
The words were Trump’s. The video is real. And now the White House is trying to explain them away.
Watch the video below:
