It’s ugly | Opinion
- Donald Trump posted a profane message on social media directed at Iran on Easter Sunday.
- The post threatened Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz or face an attack on its infrastructure.
- News outlets, including CNN’s Jake Tapper, reported on the post, with some noting the threats could constitute a war crime.
Politicians often issue holiday messages, and Donald Trump is no exception.
Wait, that’s absurd. Of course, he is an exception. On Easter Sunday, Trump, a favorite of evangelicals, posted an unhinged rant complete with profanity and threats ― with a “Praise be to Allah” thrown in for good measure.
Trump posted that Tuesday (today) will be “Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day,” threatening that if Iran didn’t open the Strait of Hormuz by Monday, the U.S. would attack.
Only that’s not how he put it.
“Open the (expletive) Strait, you crazy (expletive), or you’ll be living in Hell ― JUST WATCH.”
The first expletive was, as Ralphie says in “A Christmas Story,” “the word, the big one, the queen mother of dirty words, the F-dash-dash-dash word.” The second was just your garden-variety insult for someone born to unmarried parents.
What are we doing here?
Trump has eroded decency and decorum
The New York Times called it an “expletive-laden social media post.” The Washington Post went with “Trump threatens Iran with ‘Hell’ over Strait of Hormuz in Profane Post.” The Associated Press used “Trump issues fiery new threat against Iran as details of US Aviator’s rescue emerge.”
All are accurate. But are they true? Yes, he used bad language. Yes, his threats, if carried out, could conceivably be considered a war crime. It’s what the headlines don’t say that is so telling.
This is crazy.
Trump has lowered the standards of decency and decorum of the office until they barely exist. We know this. It seems as if every day the nation wakes up to another rant, another threat, another boast, another lie. It is a distressing fact of life that this is the world we live in, and no one with the ability to change it seems inclined to do so. In fact, many get in line, pretend it’s normal, and whistle past the graveyard on their way to a reelection campaign.
But come on. It’s Easter. Not everyone in the world, or the U.S., or even on your block, is a Christian. The United States was founded, despite what you may have heard, on religious freedom. But Trump claims to be a Christian, and enjoys the support of a lot of people who make the same claim. And this is the message he sends?
Of course it is. On Christmas Eve 2025, Trump posted, “Merry Christmas to all, including the Radical Left Scum that is doing everything possible to destroy our Country, but are failing badly. We no longer have Open Borders, Men in Women’s Sports, Transgender for Everyone, or Weak Law Enforcement.”
Even Scrooge, who said, “Every idiot who goes about with a ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart,” would say Trump went too far.
On April 5, CNN’s Jake Tapper read the whole post from Trump, F-bomb included ― but not before issuing a warning to viewers. “He has just threatened Iran in extraordinary graphic terms,” Tapper said, “giving the Iranian regime just over a day to either make a deal, reopen the Strait of Hormuz, or face hell,” Tapper said. “If your children are watching, be warned, the president did not use polite language.”
Tapper went on to say, “We should note that destroying civilian power infrastructure is generally considered to constitute a war crime under international law, though the president could argue that the infrastructure has dual use and also is utilized by Iran’s military.”
There are two sides of every story, and people who complain about the “fake news” pretend to clamor for. In this case, it’s called for. And good for Tapper for pointing out the problem with Trump’s threats.
Every media outlet should. And every outlet should call out these posts, which have numbed our sense of outrage to the point that evidently it’s just another day ending in Y when he puts them out there.
These kinds of posts are ugly, no matter who you are. When you’re the President of the United States, they’re inappropriate, immature, and ultimately dangerous. And it is neither biased nor inaccurate to say so, no matter what day of the year it is.