The Conversation (0)
Related video: The internet is outraged at how rude Trump was to this reporter
FOX NEWS
It was only a few days ago that US president Donald Trump changed the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War, and warned Chicago that it was “about to find out” why the department is called that, but now the Republican has seemingly undermined the whole thing by saying it won’t go to war with American cities.
In comments which have also sparked a reaction online over his treatment of a female reporter, Trump responded to her question about whether he was going to war with Chicago by telling the journalist: “When you say that, darling, that’s fake news.
“Listen, be quiet. Listen, you don’t listen. You never listen, that’s why you’re second-rate.
“We’re not going to war, we’re going to clean up our cities. We’re going to clean them up so they don’t kill five people every weekend. That’s not war, that’s common sense.”
This is despite Trump taking to Truth Social at the weekend and sharing a meme of him in a hat and sunglasses with several helicopters flying above him, complete with the text ‘Chipocalypse Now’ – a play on the title of the 1979 war film Apocalypse Now.
In the accompanying caption, the convicted felon shared his spin on a famous line from the movie and wrote: “’I love the smell of deportations in the morning…’ Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR.”
Many social media users – including former vice presidential candidate Tim Walz - condemned the Republican for what they considered to be him “declaring war on an American city”.
The White House clapped back at the criticism in a statement to indy100, with spokeswoman Abigail Jackson saying: “Eight people were killed and over 50 people were wounded last weekend in Chicago but Democrat leaders are more upset about a post from the President - that tells you everything you need to know about the Democrats’ twisted priorities and why Chicago has had the most murderers of any US city for 13 consecutive years.”
But following Trump now claiming the Department of War is… not going to war in Chicago, Twitter/X has referred back to Trump’s Apocalypse Now meme which they believe suggested the opposite:
“I don’t know… this clearly looks like he wants war,” wrote another, sharing his Apocalypse Now meme:
And a third commented that Trump “made himself look… not bright”:
The point has also been made that Trump’s recently rebranded Department of War is, apparently, not going to war after all:
It’s not the first time the new department has contradicted past comments from Trump, as calling it the ‘Department of War’ also goes against the former Apprentice star’s previous pledge around “no new wars”.
Why not read…
- Donald Trump mercilessly booed by US Open crowd in his hometown
- Trump can’t stop rambling about grass
Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter
How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel
Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.