Where this was said
Trump's Reaction: Fake Tears and the Fantasy of Bombing a Funeral
At 9:53 · chapter starts 9:40
This chapter centers on two extraordinary Trump quotes sourced from Axios. The first: Trump admitting he was surprised to see millions of Iranians genuinely mourning the Ayatollah, and suggesting the tears might not be real. Meiselas points out that Western and Israeli propaganda spent months insisting the regime was universally despised and broke — and now the same crowd is claiming millions of people were paid to attend a funeral by a government they said was bankrupt. The second quote is more alarming: Trump openly stating that if the U.S. wanted to, it could strike all of Iran's gathered leadership in 'one shot,' before clarifying the U.S. won't because it wants negotiating partners. Meiselas draws an explicit contrast to Mark Levin, who watched the same footage and called it 'opportunity lost,' suggesting he would have preferred the strike. Meiselas's reaction: 'What a sick thing to say.' The sequence crystallizes the episode's core argument about the gap between fantasy and strategic reality. [1] — Ben Meiselas "Trump told Axios the mourning might be fake and mused that the U.S. could have struck all of Iran's leadership at the funeral in 'one shot.…" 09:40
Trump told Axios the mourning might be fake and mused that the U.S. could have struck all of Iran's leadership at the funeral in 'one shot.' Both statements reveal how badly Trump misread Iranian society — and how dangerous that misreading still is.
Trump told Axios he was surprised to see Iranians crying for the Ayatollah, suggesting the displays of grief might not be genuine.
Trump mused that the U.S. could have struck Iran's leadership assembled at the funeral in one shot, but declined because it would leave no one to negotiate with.
