Donald Trump slammed over 'small potatoes' Iran War comments
United States officials have slammed Donald Trump after he made a ‘horrific’ statement about conflict in the Middle East being ‘small potatoes’.
During an Oval Office meeting last week (4 September), the US President was asked by ABC’s Rachel Scott if he agreed with JD Vance’s sentiments that fighting in Iran would not be considered a war.
“Right now, there is no active shooting,” Vance, 42, said during a White House press briefing.
Sharing his support for the Vice President, Trump, 80, agreed that he and ‘a lot’ of other people would agree that fighting in the Middle East is not ‘a war’ but rather ‘military conflict’.
Advert
“It’s small potatoes for us,” the father-of-five complained. “It’s not a big thing.
“We did Venezuela, and we did this. And in Venezuela, we lost nobody, and this we lost 18 people.”
Trump went on to say that during the Vietnam War, ‘100,000 people’ lost their lives.
“In other conflicts you lost tens of thousands of people,” he added.
Scott responded, claiming the conflict didn’t ‘feel like small potatoes’.
“18 people have died in this,” she continued.
Trump, who asked the reporter if she was aware how long the Vietnam War lasted, retorted: “How long were we in Vietnam? We’re in five months now. And you know what we did in five months? They’re not going to have a nuclear weapon.
“That’s what we did. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon because if they did, you probably wouldn’t be standing here very long.”
Various lawmakers have had their say on the Republicans’ comments, including former US Army officer and current representative for Colorado's 6th congressional district, Jason Crow.
“18 Americans dead. Hundreds more wounded. That's not ‘small potatoes’, Mr. President,” he wrote via X.
“As elites talk tough and bang the war drums from their gold-plated offices, it’s working class folks who have to pick up a rifle, jump in a tank, and do the fighting. It p***es me off – and it should p**s you off too.”
Chuck Schumer, long-serving US Senator from New York and top Democratic leader in Congress, said: “’Small potatoes.’ That’s how Donald Trump feels about the war he started in Iran.
“Tell that to the families of the 18 troops we’ve lost, the hundreds of wounded servicemembers, and the Americans suffering every single day from record high prices. There's nothing small about it.”
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Warren,the senior United States senator from Massachusetts, added: “What a horrific thing for our commander in chief to say about people who sacrificed their lives for our country.”
The day before Trump's remarks, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick apologised for inaccurately claiming that no Americans had been killed during the war in Iran, insisting he had Venezuela on his mind.
"18 members of our military have died, and to those families my heart breaks and I am so very sorry for their loss," Lutnick wrote.
"I was thinking about the Venezuelan military operation where no service members died.”
Lutnick continued, alleging he was ‘deeply thankful for our military’ before noting his brother was killed during the terror attacks of September 11, 2001.
Ella Scott