Politics
‘You Don’t Know’: Trump Flips The Script After Reporter’s Ridiculous Question
An absurd question by a White House reporter on Wednesday led to a public flogging by President Donald Trump, who used the opportunity to remind the press corps that they aren’t going to get every nugget of news from him whenever they want.
As the president weighs military action in Iran, the media has grown increasingly agitated in its coverage about whether Trump will walk back past promises to avoid involving the U.S. in most foreign entanglements, but especially military campaigns. To be sure, his MAGA coalition is built on a bedrock of war-weary conservatives who in recent days have said that the American First agenda stands for, if nothing else, isolation from the world stage.
But when one journalist prodded Trump about his next move, they stepped over the line, and he lost it on them.
“Are you moving closer, or do you believe the U.S. is moving closer, to striking Iranian nuclear facilities? Where’s your mindset on that?” she asked.
Trump, throwing up his hands and looking around, expressed incredulity at the sheer audacity of the question.
“Well obviously I can’t say that,” he replied, mocking the journalist. “You don’t serious think I’m gonna answer that ques– ‘will you strike the Iranian nuclear component, and what time exactly, sir?'”
“Sir, when you strike it, would you please inform us so we can be there and watch.’ I mean, you don’t know if I’m gonna do it. I may do it, I may not do it, nobody knows what I’m gonna do,” he went on. “I can tell you this, that Iran’s got a lot of trouble, and they want to negotiate.”
Speaking about his conversation with Iran’s supreme leader, he added, “I said ‘why didn’t you speak with me two weeks ago? You could’ve done fine. You could’ve had a country.'”
WATCH:
Iran is smoldering after six days of heavy bombardment by Israel’s air force, which has effectively taken control of its skies after neutralizing most of the country’s fighter jets. Thousands were still fleeing Tehran on Wednesday after Israel provided notice that it plans to conduct yet another round of bombing on the Iranian capital city.
Trump’s comments come one day after a sensational post on Truth Social where he mused about killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei with a military strike, taunting the Iranian authority by suggesting he knows where he is hiding.
“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there — We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now,” he wrote in the cryptic post.
Both sets of remarks follow those made on Monday at the G7 in Canada, where President Trump suggested he has grown tired about Iran’s refusal to negotiate for peace by ending its pursuit of military-grade enriched uranium.
“I want to see no nuclear weapon in Iran, and we’re well on our way to making sure that happens,” Trump told reporters while leaving the summit. “I’m not much in a mood to negotiate.”
