There’s a cunning strategy behind Trump’s ‘let them take out’ LA statements

President Donald Trump has set off a political firestorm by repeatedly suggesting that Iran could be allowed to strike Los Angeles or San Diego, remarks that MS NOW columnist Zeeshan Aleem argues were deliberately open to more than one reading. Speaking about the Iran war and fuel costs at a Nebraska rally on Tuesday, Trump called higher gas prices minor and said of the two California cities, "Let them take out Los Angeles," drawing cheers. The next day in San Antonio he returned to the idea, this time adding that he would not permit such an outcome, and the crowd response was quieter.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom branded him deranged and dangerous. White House communications director Steven Cheung said the president meant that American cities would have faced danger had a nuclear Iran not been halted. Aleem notes there is no evidence Iran was building a nuclear weapon. On Thursday Trump posted on Truth Social that a short-lived rise in gasoline costs is trivial next to the damage of a bombing of those cities.

Summarized by PolitiKool from MS NOW’s reporting. Read the full story at MS NOW →