President Donald Trump on Wednesday made a series of claims about Iran while attending a NATO summit in Turkey that clashed with wholly opposite comments he made over the past month, which CNN host Abby Phillip highlighted with a damning split-screen.
Trump's Contradictory Statements
The MAGA leader told reporters Wednesday that the memorandum of understanding with Iran to end the war is “over,” calling the leadership “sick people” and “scum” and reiterating his administration’s claims that Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons to attack the U.S. “Iran’s deputy foreign minister said that the insults ‘are not a sign of strength,’” Phillip said Wednesday. “Instead, they show Trump’s policy, ‘based on brute force’ and sanctions and threats have failed. He then called Trump a ‘criminal’ and ‘murderous.’”
The “NewsNight” host went on to note that Trump’s rhetoric in Turkey was “a complete 180” from his “tone” on the matter throughout the last month. Phillip supported her claim with a revealing split-screen montage that showcased his disparate comments.
Split-Screen Montage Exposes Flip-Flop
“And we’re dealing with people that I think are very rational people,” Trump said at the G7 summit in France last month, which was contrasted in the video with his claim Wednesday, “They’re very dangerous people from Iran. They’re sick. There’s something wrong with them.”
The news show’s montage exposed even more opposing perspectives from the president, who told reporters last month, “They have a new group of leaders that I think is, actually, I think they’re smarter. I think they’re very smart. I think they’re far less radicalized.”
Trump said Wednesday, as “NewsNight” highlighted, “They’re scum. You know what scum is? They’re scum. They’re sick people ... I don’t think they know what the hell they’re doing, but they’re bad people, very bad people.”
The MAGA leader added last month, “I think they’re really good, they love their country.”
Then Trump on Wednesday said, “These are evil, sick people, and we have to rid their cancer. They’re cancer. And you know what you do? You’ve got to cut out cancer early. They’re liars, they’re cheats, they’re sick people. They’ve hurt their people.”
War Costs and Casualties
Trump launched the war with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes in February. It has already cost at least 13 U.S. military service members and more than 3,000 Iranians their lives. Initial strikes hit a girls’ school, killing up to 175 people, most of them children ages 7-12.
The brazen display of inconsistency and hypocrisy Wednesday left anti-war critics fuming.
“Whoever is supporting this lunacy in the presidency shouldn’t be taken seriously by anyone,” wrote one social media user on X. “That does not include the people that still attend his whining, complaining and deceitful rallies.”
Another asked plainly, “Does none of this register in the minds of his followers as disturbing?”
