On Monday night in Grand Island, Nebraska, defending the price Americans are paying for his war with Iran, President Donald Trump bragged to a cheering crowd: “Let them take out Los Angeles.
asserted
them → defend → Angeles
Let them take out San Diego.”
asserted
them → let → Diego
It was, he added, “a very small price to pay.”
asserted
he → add → ?
An American president describing the potential destruction of major American cities and the deaths of millions of citizens as “a very small price” to pay in a war is dangerous and callous.
asserted
president → describe → war
Unsurprisingly, political leaders and media commentators piled on in outrage.
asserted
leaders → pile → outrage
Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, called him “deranged and dangerous.”
asserted
Newsom → call → him
Todd Gloria, the mayor of San Diego, reminded Trump that his city “is not collateral damage.”
asserted
city → remind → Trump
Even Jim Desmond, a Navy veteran and San Diego County supervisor, who is running for the House seat representing California’s 48th Congressional District, “vehemently” disagreed with Trump, arguing that “America must stand up to Iran and defend our interests, but the first responsibility of our Commander in Chief is to protect the American people and our homeland.”
asserted
responsibility → run → people
Cable television spent a day parsing what Trump really meant, giving him precisely what he wanted: a distraction from his declining poll numbers, rising inflation, falling employment, his inability to protect U.S. military installations in the Middle East and the United Kingdom, and the refusal of his friend, President Vladimir Putin, to explain the suspected spread of a plague virus in Russia.
asserted
he → spend → Russia
Having known Trump for 30 years, it is wrong and dangerous to write off his grotesque capers as delirious tantrums or creeping dementia.
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it → know → tantrums
Some call this diversionary maneuver the hypnotic effect of a “shiny new object.”
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Some → call → object
Mass communication scholars of the 1940s called this the Wurlitzer Effect, drawing on the power of the booming organs accompanying carnival carousels to command attention.
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scholars → call → attention
In our New York Times bestselling book, Trump’s Ten Commandments, we call this the “Wall of Sound,” after the scandalous Phil Spector’s famous attention-controlling production technique of layering so many instruments that the music fills every frequency and drowns out everything else.
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music → call → everything
What most political analysts presume to be impulsive chaos is often a deliberate, calibrated churn of provocations.
asserted
presume → presume → provocations
When a conventional leader faces a damaging story, they try to change the subject with good news.
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they → face → news
Trump does the opposite.
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Trump → do → opposite
He buries bad news under louder, more outrageous news of his own making.
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He → bury → making
He is the only leader who will shoot himself in the left foot if it keeps you from looking at his right.
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it → shoot → right
The Trump distraction machine
We have watched him run this play many times before.
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him → watch → play
In January, Trump escalated his threats against Greenland, invoking an unsupported, even hallucinatory danger to U.S. national security.
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Trump → escalate → security
He put reserve units on alert, threatened an unprovoked military invasion and trade sanctions against Denmark.
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He → put → Denmark
He renewed his taunts about making Canada the 51st state.
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Canada → renew → taunts
The European Union, the United Kingdom, and Canada mobilized to curb his bluster.
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Union → mobilize → bluster
The military raid Trump ordered to capture and extract Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro in early January was deceptively justified with a flurry of explanations.
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Trump → order → explanations
He invoked national security despite the absence of risk of foreign attacks.
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He → invoke → attacks
He cited drug interdiction despite the lack of drug trafficking from Venezuela into the U.S. and his release of major drug trafficker from Honduras.
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He → cite → Honduras
He promised regime change to restore democracy, then left the same regime in place.
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He → promise → place
And he pledged to increase U.S. fuel supplies and lower retail gasoline prices, a claim that glossed over the challenges of refining Venezuela’s thick, sour crude.
uncertain
that → pledge → crude
On Jun. 22, 2025, Trump launched Operation Midnight Hammer with great fanfare, deploying B-2 stealth bombers and submarine-launched Tomahawk missiles against three Iranian nuclear facilities: Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.
asserted
Trump → launch → facilities
He declared that the operation had destroyed Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and eliminated the nuclear threat posed by the regime.
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operation → declare → regime
Iran’s continued nuclear weapons capability punctured the bravado.
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capability → puncture → bravado
On Feb. 28, Trump launched Operation Epic Fury, promising to topple the Iranian regime and eliminate its proxies—Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis—within days.
asserted
Trump → launch → days
Eight months later, the fighting continues on all these fronts, with no resolution in sight.
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fighting → continue → sight
Even military experts who supported the operation questioned its timing: there had been no immediate Iranian provocation, and U.S. naval assets needed for the mission were positioned in the Caribbean and the South China Sea, far from the Middle East.
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assets → support → East
The timing made sense as another desperate attempt by Trump to distract from his failures at home.
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timing → make → home
The racist AI video of the Obamas that Trump shared in a late-night Truth Social post in February was a calculated diversion, timed to coincide with his sagging approval ratings.
asserted
Trump → share → ratings
He faced criticism for his bizarre bigoted humor, the sort that had ended or damaged the careers of earlier politicians, such as Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, and Congressman Steve King.
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that → face → Butz
But Trump was delighted to have baited the weekend news shows away from his domestic policy setbacks.
asserted
Trump → bait → setbacks
When that controversy faded, he pivoted again, this time to targeting revered national landmarks.
asserted
he → fade → landmarks
He sought to rename the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, ultimately closing the building and threatening to raze it if he could not put his name on it.
uncertain
he → seek → it
…and 28 more, not listed.
The Aporia
