Donald Trump told a Nebraska crowd on Monday night that Iran taking out Los Angeles and San Diego would be "a very small price to pay," and the price he was defending was the war's gas prices.
The whole argument takes about a minute of the tape from Grand Island. Trump told the crowd to vote by Nov. 3, and said he wanted "a tremendous victory" because "it verifies all the things we did." Then he turned to 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." Then came a line about Iran being able to "take out a city," and: "Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay, and it's gonna be over with very soon." The crowd cheered, and he ended the thought on "your gas and your gasoline."
About seven minutes earlier he had told the same crowd what the war buys. He recalled passing an Iowa gas station at $1.95 a gallon before the war and promised, "We'll have it lower than that in a very short period of time." He put the end of the war "maybe a little after the election, maybe a little before," and said oil would come down when it ends.
The minute with the cities tells you how the war is being sold. Trump is pitching its cost to voters four weeks before the midterms, and the cost is the pump, with two American cities thrown in as the example of what else the country can afford to lose.
By Tuesday morning the White House had a different reading of the tape.
