Trump Ripped Apart For 'Absolutely Horrible' Comments About Iran War Being 'Small Potatoes'
Comments made by President Donald Trump calling the Iran war "small potatoes" are being widely condemned by lawmakers and critics alike, largely due to the president appearing to dismiss the 18 U.S. service members killed since the conflict began.
The remarks came after Trump was asked by ABC's Rachel Scott in the Oval Office on Friday about Vice President JD Vance's claim that the conflict in Iran was not a war.
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"I'll tell you what, a lot of people don't call it a war," Trump said. "I call it a military conflict because it's small potatoes for us. It's not a big thing. We did Venezuela, and we did this. In Venezuela, we lost nobody, and this we lost 18 people. In Vietnam you lost a 100 thousand people, and in other conflicts you lost tens of thousands of people."
Scott quickly offered a retort to Trump, pointing out the service members killed in the war so far.
"It certainly doesn't feel like small potatoes, Mr. President. 18 people have died in this," Scott said.
Trump responded by continuing to compare Iran to the Vietnam War and asking Scott if she knew how long that conflict lasted.
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"How long were we in Vietnam?" Trump said. "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."
Many Democratic lawmakers, including several who served in the military, sounded off on Trump's seemingly cavalier attitude towards the service members who have been killed.
As of Friday, 18 service members have been killed and more than 750 wounded since the U.S. and Israel launched the war in late February.
See reactions to Trump's comments on Friday here:
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