Donald Trump is doing something we’ve rarely seen him do: backtrack. Twice in recent days, Trump has been forced to retreat from his own outrageous actions and statements, underscoring how much the political climate has deteriorated for him and the GOP—and how much less he’s getting away with than he once did.
Since September, Trump has been running propaganda ads to try to boost his and the GOP’s ratings headed into the midterms, paid for by taxpayer dollars—which critics argue violates federal law. The ads have been outrageous, including one that declares, “This is the final battle,” and “Join President Trump’s fight to save America,” ending with the tagline, “Paid for by the U.S. government.”
The White House denied they are political ads—laughably calling them public service announcements—as did Trump. But on Monday, Trump announced his super PAC would pay for new ads moving forward—though his administration initially declined to commit to reimbursing the government for the ads that had already run. For Trump, this was a major public backtrack—even if we should all remain dubious that he’d actually pay for them—and an admission, in effect, that the ads are political.
The Signorile Report is free and reader-supported. If you’ve valued reading The Signorile Report, consider becoming a paid subscriber and supporting independent, ad-free opinion journalism. Thanks!
So, what happened? Democrats slammed him hard, many Republican politicians cringed and spoke out, and Trump’s own supporters were angry about it. One poll showed a whopping 86% of the public disapproved, including 80% of Republicans.
Now Trump has been hit with a lawsuit by the Democratic National Committee, and a second suit from Common Cause and other plaintiffs, challenging the use of taxpayer funds for the ads. This could push him to pay for the the ads that have already run.
Then came the uproar over Trump’s suggestion at a rally in Nebraska on Monday night that Iran should “take out” Los Angeles and San Diego. Here were his exact words:
I want to see a tremendous victory. You want to see a tremendous victory because it verifies all the things we did. And again, remember, with the war, it’s just artificial. It’s a little bit high. It’s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe.
They can take out a city. Let them take, let them take out Los Angeles; let them take out San Diego. That’s — this is a very small price to pay, and it’s going to be over with very soon. It’s essentially almost over with.
And they might keep going a little long. You know, they always say they have a big threshold for pain. They need it. Let me tell you, they need it. But it’s going to end very soon.
The White House claimed Trump’s quotes were taken “out of context,” insisting he was warning about the danger of a nuclear-armed Iran. But this is a dubious defense of what he actually said. Wherever Trump was going with his argument that Iran shouldn’t have a nuclear weapon and could “take out a city,” his words that followed specifically were, “Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego.” Last time I checked, “let them” meant allow them. And the crowd in Nebraska eerily cheered as Trump spoke of American cities in a blue state being attacked.
The fact that Trump was even in Nebraska said everything about his and the GOP’s desperation, as the Senate map for Democrats has expanded to deep-red states like Nebraska and Kansas, while Texas has already become a five-alarm fire for Republicans. Now the Senate Leadership Fund, the main Republican Senate super PAC, is even committing $5 million to South Carolina to shore up Darline Graham.
The uproar across California was deafening, as even Republican politicians spoke out. Trump may have appeared to be suggesting nuking L.A., but he was definitely dropping a political bomb on Republicans in tough California races that could decide control of the House. But even among his own supporters in other parts of the country, there was disgust at the idea of joking about nuking a city. I heard one three-time Trump voter in Nebraska, where Trump gave the speech, on MS NOW expressing his horror and saying Trump should shut his mouth.
The next day, when asked to clarify his remarks, Trump twice refused to answer reporters’ questions, which is his usual way of dealing with having said something so over the line—just let it ride out.
But clearly the political damage was done, enough so that Trump had to try to walk it back. At a rally in San Antonio last night, he attempted to make it appear that he was trying to “protect” the cities.
“You want to see problems? And I said it the other day: Let them hit a missile into San Diego or Los Angeles on the way. Let them hit. You want to see a horror show? You want to see problems?”
“Let them hit San Diego. Let them hit Los Angeles if you want to see some bad things happen. You want to see a country that would be in free fall?”
“We’re not going to let that happen. We protect our cities. We protect our country. We’re not letting that happen.”
This was pretty dubious. If Trump really was expressing concern that Iran would get a nuclear weapon and could strike cities in the U.S., it seems to me he’d mention an East Coast city—if that—since Iran has no demonstrated operational missile capability to deliver a nuclear weapon to the West Coast. (And it could not reach East Coast as well, as it has no intercontinental ballistic missles.)
No, Trump was doing his usual performance for the MAGA crowd, throwing hateful chum into the water, and meant to suggest blowing up L.A. and San Diego—and he got the creepy laughter he was looking for.
The original comments weren’t surprising. But the remarkable thing here was the backtrack. As with the ads, Trump has little grip on political reality, no clue how his actions are hurting himself and the GOP. That’s because in the past he got a pass on these kinds of things. Now, with gas prices soaring and inflation continuing to squeeze consumers, as Trump reports billions in income from crypto and other ventures while serving as president, even many in his own base are taking notice, and they’re unhappy.
Those who’ve woken up, however many there are, aren’t willing to let stuff go by now, particularly as he tries to change the subject, and more and more of them are expressing their disgust. For Trump, this is all new—and it explains why he’s slipping and helping doom the GOP.
Someone said he’s “radioactive” and we see many GOPpers scurrying away, “please don’t come rally for me !” TEN YEARS waiting for this grand experiment and madness to get in the rear view mirror. Man that’s a huge % of all our lives.
From your lips to God's ears! The ads are pathetic, doesn't he get that the more we see his orange face the more we despise what he is doing? All to get richer?!? He's 80 effing years old and in ill-health. How much is enough?