One example of how the New York Times whitewashes Trump's overt lunacy

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At a rally last night in Grand Island, Nebraska, Trump claimed that if Iran should take out Los Angeles and San Diego, that would be a "very small price to pay" for his war on Iran. 

Here is the quote, as reported by a New York Times reporter at the event in Grand Island, Nebraska:

                            Bluesky post from NY Times reporter Bayliss Wagner on Trump's statement

“They could take out a city,” he said. “Let them take—Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego. That’s—this is a very small price to pay."

This is a deranged, dangerous statement but if you look at the front page of today's New York Times, there is no hint of it anywhere.  

                                      Top half of the front page of the print edition on 10/6/26

                         Below the fold of the front page of the NY Times print edition on 10/6/26
 
 The NY Times did cover the story but framed it as a messy political debate between the GOP president and the blue state politicians in California. (I could only find the story by searching for "Trump Grand Island – it was not easy to find on its website outside of a search.)

                        The president's suggestion that Iran could "take out" Los Angeles and San Diego 
                        is presented and framed by the NY Times as Trump v. California politicians 

The reporter covering the story, Laura Chung, is apparently based in New Zealand:

This makes one wonder - was she at the rally? 

In Chung's story, she makes the claim that "It was not immediately clear what Mr. Trump meant, but his comments were met with anger from officials in California, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, who called the president 'deranged and dangerous.'"

It's really clear what Trump meant but for whatever reasons, the paper of record feels compelled over and over to whitewash his venal policy suggestions. Here, they frame Trump's claim that nuking two California cities as a "very small price to pay" as merely a normal statement that is angering people in California.  

What's adding to the frustration is that the New York Times spent a lot of ink and inches on Biden's mental capacity after his disastrous debate performance during the 2024 campaign but when Trump makes bizarre and alarming statements, they offer up the pretense that this is normal political discourse and any pushback is just so much Democratic Party rage against the leader of the GOP.  

A president casually makes the claim that losing Los Angeles and San Diego to a nuclear attack by Iran is just a "very small price to pay" for his war. This is the same president that in June 2025 claimed that his administration had "obliterated" Iran's nuclear capability. Which is true? Is either statement true? Does/did Iran ever have nuclear bombs to lob at the US or is this just more "mushroom cloud" propaganda that puts Americans in the mindset for war in the Middle East? Is having an enemy state launch nuclear missiles on the US just a small price to pay for Trump's war? When will this war end? Why does the US Defense Secretary seem to pay more attention to the testosterone levels of male soldiers than he does to winning the war he claimed would be easy to win? 

I wish New York Times reporters would ask those kinds of questions but they don't.  


 

 

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