Democrats Told a Lie So Big, Even CNN Debunked It

You know the left is in trouble when even a CNN fact-checker is exposing their lies. This time, Democrats decided that pulling off another hoax similar to the “fine people” debacle might bolster their chances of winning in the midterm elections.

President Donald Trump gave a speech on Monday in which he laid out the case for the war on Iran, saying that economic discomfort is a small price to pay for preventing the Iranian regime from becoming a nuclear power.

“And I said it the other day: Let them hit a missile into San Diego or Los Angeles,” Trump said. “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. And you want to see some bad things happen, you want to see a country that would be in freefall.”

The president added, “We’re not going to let that happen. We protect our cities, we protect our country. We’re not letting that happen. And they’d use it too. They’d use it. They would use it.”

Leftist operative Aaron Rupar posted a clip of Trump’s comments. But as the left did with the “fine people” hoax, he cut out the part where Trump affirms that he’s not going to let Iran nuke U.S. cities.

Needless to say, Democrats went all in on sharing the doctored clip and claim the president wants to let Iran nuke American cities — which makes no sense when you listen to the comments in context.

CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale, in a post on X, ripped the hoax apart, noting that Trump “has repeatedly argued that the consequences of the war, like higher gas prices, are a small price to pay compared to what an unchecked Iran could allegedly do.”

Last night, in especially rambling and incomplete fashion, he 1) claimed high prices are temporary and suggested they’re “artificial”; 2) contrasted that to the damage of Iran supposedly taking out a city; 3) and then, in especially confusing style, repeated his old point that “this,” as in the consequences of the war, is a small price to pay to avoid something like a city being wiped out. 

It’s Trump’s fault you kinda have to be steeped in TrumpRallySpeak to know what he was saying last night, and of course you can say it’s inappropriate regardless for the president to casually float the possibility of a city being wiped out, but the context exists and is important.

This isn’t a direct quote from Trump, and I very much don’t think it’s a correct paraphrase. Trump has repeatedly argued that the consequences of the war, like higher gas prices, are a small price to pay compared to what an unchecked Iran could allegedly do. Last night, in especially rambling and incomplete fashion, he 1) claimed high prices are temporary and suggested they’re “artificial”; 2) contrasted that to the damage of Iran supposedly taking out a city; 3) and then, in especially confusing style, repeated his old point that “this,” as in the consequences of the war, is a small price to pay to avoid something like a a city being wiped out. It’s Trump’s fault you kinda have to be steeped in TrumpRallySpeak to know what he was saying last night, and of course you can say it’s inappropriate regardless for the president to casually float the possibility of a city being wiped out, but the context exists and is important.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) October 6, 2026

In another post, Dale took on another doctored clip that was posted online. He noted that the new post “even *more* takes him out of context.”

This time, Trump said right after this comment, “We’re not gonna let that happen. We protect our cities, we protect our country.” (Rupar’s post includes that comment, but the caption doesn’t). And right before this comment, Trump was talking about how oil prices are not as high as people thought the war would send them. In other words, he was, as he has on previous occasions, contrasting the big damage Iran could (supposedly) do to cities with a nuclear weapon with the (supposedly) minimal harm of the war.

I see some people treating this post as evidence Trump wasn’t taken out of context in the previous speech. In fact, this post even *more* obviously takes him out of context. This time, Trump said right after this comment, “We’re not gonna let that happen. We protect our cities, we protect our country.” (Rupar’s post includes that comment, but the caption doesn’t). And right before this comment, Trump was talking about how oil prices are not as high as people thought the war would send them. In other words, he was, as he has on previous occasions, contrasting the big damage Iran could (supposedly) do to cities with a nuclear weapon with the (supposedly) minimal harm of the war. Here are the full relevant remarks. (Critics are free to call them inappropriate, but people should see the entire monologue.) “And just as I promised, I am ensuring that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon…Never. They know that. They know that. And we’ll be out of there soon. And you watch those oil prices come down like a rock, and watch everything; everything else is coming down. Oil is coming down. You know, we pay less than oil, and we did that whole thing with – because that was a big operation that should have been done by past presidents for many years. It should have been done, but nobody wanted to take it on. We had no choice. Because we can’t let them have a nuclear weapon. And I’ll tell you what. Oil: a little more, maybe more than a little, but a lot of people thought it’d be 3, 4, 5 times that. When I went in, I thought it could be much higher than that. But we are paying less than under the Biden administration; he didn’t do anything. He gave you the highest inflation in history. He didn’t do anything. But you want to see trauma? 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. And you want to see some bad things happen, you want to see a country that would be in freefall. We’re not going to let that happen. We protect our cities, we protect our country. We’re not letting that happen. And they’d use it too. They’d use it. They would use it.” https://t.co/UVHAmtNh0j

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) October 8, 2026

Perhaps Democrats aren’t as confident about their chances of winning in November if they are resorting to the hoax strategy again. This one, as with the “fine people” hoax, was easy to debunk. But the problem is that more people tend to see the lie than the correction, which means there are still plenty of people who believe that Trump wants to let Iran bomb U.S. cities for no apparent reason.

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