Nuclear Reaction
Updated: 18 hours ago
"They can take out a city. Let them take, let them take out Los Angeles; let them take out San Diego. That’s — this [high cost of gas] is a very small price to pay, and it’s going to be over with very soon. It’s essentially almost over with."
-- Trump, October 5, 2026. Grand Island, Nebraska
Yes, of course, he was joking about Iran and nukes. Obviously, to be totally fair, it was a joke. And if we're being totally fair, I wouldn't bet everything I owned that he was just joking. After all, Trump has dementia, which is degenerative, and is a malignant narcissist, a medical condition where cruelty is one of the ways it manifests itself when one doesn't get their way. So, who can swear what someone dealing with those illness is thinking about the dark, aberrant things they say and do?
But I believe the most fair result is to say that, yes, obviously Trump was joking.
So what?
We all know that there are terrible jokes. Unfunny jokes. Cruel, mean-spirited jokes. Jokes meant to hurt and belittle others. Jokes that are racist, anti-Semitic, misogynist, homophobic. Jokes that express what a person truly believes, though knows it shouldn't be said out loud, but can be brushed away as "Oh, come on, I was only joking." We all know this. We all know that "I was just joking," isn't inherently a "Get out of jail free card" excuse for whatever someone decides to spit out of their mouth. Context matters. Intent matters. Personal history matters. And it helps if you can actually explain what the joke is.
We also all know the expression that a joked bombed. Man, is that ever meaningful.
But the bottom line is that everyone knows that there are horrible jokes. And that "I was just joking" doesn't excuse them by saying those four words. Four words, to be clear, that Trump has not said.
Though I will say them -- Trump was just joking. To which I'll add four more words: I'm pretty sure, probably. And will also give him a medical exemption. Adding two more words --
So what?
The circle around Trump are desperately trying to defend this defenseless act by saying, "It was a joke. Why can't the left take a joke?" Putting aside how thick the book of liberal comedians and comedy writers is, and that the list of those on the right can fit in a pamphlet -- and putting aside that Trump's defenders have no idea how much or if Trump was, in fact, only just joking -- in their flailing to try to excuse this lumpish comment , they miss the critical point that, yes, Trump was just "joking" about blowing two major U.S. cities, but --
So what?
In fact, even putting aside that there are terrible, cruel jokes, and jokes that you mean, there are also jokes that some people -- or countries -- don't realize are jokes and act on them. And worse, there are jokes that some others do understand are jokes, but choose to use them to justify their malicious actions.
Iran doesn't have the capability to send an inter-ballistic nuclear missile to the West Coast of the United States. Nor does it have nuclear weapon capability. It might one day, though that had been blocked by the nuclear treaty deal we had with Iran that Trump tore up and then attacked the country. But right now, no, there's no nuclear threat. But that doesn't mean they don't have other means of attacking in the U.S. And hearing Trump "joke" about taking out Los Angeles and San Diego might convince them to cause great damage and place the blame on Trump. "Hey, he told us to!" I don't know that that will actually happen, of course. But the important point is that Trump doesn't either.
But even putting all that aside -- this was just a monumentally stupid, lunatic, foolhardy thing to say. At any time, of course, but right before early voting starts in the Mid-Term election just makes it all the more crazy. You'd normally ask, what was Trump thinking. But it's pretty clear that no thinking was involved. Even at its most basic, this confirms people's worst view of Trump: someone cold-hearted, uncaring of others, rash, irresponsible, selfish, egomaniacal and more. And pretty much most MAGOP officials have been silent. Letting this seep into the mainstream. Because it's who they and the party are.
The numbers don't matter. His words are what matter, joking or otherwise. But numbers do add perspective --
There are 21 million Americans who live in the greater Los Angeles and San Diego area. That's six percent of the entire country. Just take them out, great joke. And for all those MAGA at the rally who cheered Trump's statement (though it's worth noting by reporters in attendance, most rallygoers did not cheer or laugh), millions of people who Trump "joked" about dying were MAGA.
Further, there are military bases in the area, for which 100,000 active duty members of the armed forces are stationed. And 420,000 military veterans live in the area. Take them out. Along with another 21 million people.
Just yesterday, I wrote an article here about Trump screwing over his party when out on the campaign trail. Well, boy howdy, did that age well. One day later, there he is, out on the campaign trail talking, joking, whatevering about inviting Iran to destroy 21 million Americans. Just what I'm sure all the MAGOP candidates around the country must love -- and why so many of them are telling him not to come to their district to...help.
Importantly, this wasn't just someone, anyone "joking" (and again, we're presuming that). This was the president of the United States. The one person in the country whose ever word is analyzed by closely by every nation in the world. How truly idiotic does such a person have to be?? How irresponsible and totally thoughtless, the very definition of not thinking before you open your piehole. There's a phrase that I know gets overused -- deservedly -- but it always fits: imagine if this was said by President Obama. Or President Biden. Or President Clinton. Or even President George W. Bush. Or President Ronald Reagan. Or -- or any president in the history of the country. Imagine it.
And for all those MAGA chuckling and dismissing it as "just a joke," imagine your head-exploding outrage if President Obama or President Biden -- or any president -- was at a rally and said about Iran or Russia or China as a knee-slapping joke, "They can take out a city. Let them take, let them take out Alabama; let them take out Arkansas. Let them take out Mississippi. Let them take out South Carolina. And Grand Island, Nebraska."
By the way, four entire states -- plus one rally crowd -- that's 17 million Americans. We're still four million short.
Tee-hee-hee. It was just a joke.
Just like Trump. The man who puts the gag in gag.
By the way...this is a joke. And a very good one. By someone who knows what he's doing. And, importantly, doesn't have the nuclear codes, didn't start a war against anyone, and isn't a malignant narcissist with dementia, which is degenerative.
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