Musician Jack White on Tuesday condemned President Trump as the “worst American of all time” in an Instagram post responding to remarks the president made at a Nebraska campaign rally a night earlier.
Speaking Monday in Grand Island, Mr. Trump was discussing the Iran war and its effect on prices when he said, “Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego.” Attendees appeared to cheer, and it was not immediately clear what he meant. The White House says he was making the opposite point, that the war is aimed at preventing Iran from gaining the ability to strike the cities, not that he wanted an attack.
In his post, Mr. White asked Republicans and conservatives living in the two cities how they felt about a president recommending attacks on the places they live. He referred to Mr. Trump as “Fuhrer,” which is historically associated with Adolf Hitler. He dismissed in advance any claim that the remark was a joke, and he predicted, without citing evidence, that Mr. Trump would take illegal steps next month to prevent Republican losses in the midterm elections.
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The White House’s Rapid Response account made that case on X, saying the United States is fighting to keep Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon that could hit the cities. White House spokesman Steven Cheung dismissed the media reaction as not rooted in reality and said Mr. Trump was making the point that U.S. cities would have been threatened had a nuclear Iran not been stopped.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom called the remarks “deranged and dangerous” and said he had directed the state’s Threat Assessment Center to monitor for any foreign actors who might take them as an invitation to target California. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria also criticized the president, with Mr. Gloria saying his city is not expendable.
Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel also criticized the comments in his Tuesday monologue. Mr. Trump declined Tuesday to answer a reporter’s question about what he meant.
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