CNN’s Jake Tapper aired Donald Trump’s profanity-laced Easter threat uncensored, reading the remarks aloud in full for viewers.
Tapper opened State of the Union on Sunday just minutes after Trump posted the F-bomb threat to Iran on Truth Social.
“This latest Truth Social post from the president, let’s start with that. He calls on Iran to ‘open the f---ing Strait, you crazy b-----,’” Tapper said.
The seasoned anchor then looked directly into the camera and raised a hand to clarify, “I’m quoting—apologies.”
Tapper turned to guest Brett McGurk—a veteran national security official who has worked on Iran policy under four presidents, including Donald Trump—and asked for his reaction to the president’s aggressive message.
“My thought—this is an escalation to try to get a deal. That‘s not going to get a deal,” he summarized.
The former counter-IS special envoy continued: “I mean, with diplomacy with Iran, a lot of it is secret back-channel because they publicly posture, we publicly posture... makes it very hard to actually, I think, achieve what he’s trying to achieve there.”
McGurk agreed that Iran still controlling the Strait of Hormuz upon the war’s eventual culmination would be “a very bad outcome,” but questioned what plan was in place to counter it.
The Middle East expert—who recently led negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza—suggested that even without a clear plan, Trump has been giving mixed messaging about whether he’s willing to fight for the Strait, or give up and wash his hands of it completely.
“And it‘s also striking, the president in his national address the other night suggested the Strait of Hormuz was not an objective for us,” he noted.
Alluding to both Trump’s frat boy language and his ever-changing convictions, McGurk concluded: “I think now—at least colorfully—he seems to be suggesting it is. And again, it’s just kind of shifting objectives in terms of what exactly we‘re trying to achieve here.”
In Trump’s full Truth Social post, he vowed: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F--in’ Strait, you crazy b-----, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP”
While the president upped the ante this time with NSFW phrasing, it seems that all of his prior public call-outs to Iran have gone unanswered.
On March 21, Trump blasted out a 48-hour ultimatum on Truth Social, demanding Iran “fully open, without threat,” the Strait of Hormuz—or face strikes on its power grid. When Iran didn’t budge, he punted the deadline—first by five days, then into a rolling 10-day window now set to expire April 6.
However, it seems that Trump may have lost track of his calendar and forgotten about his ultimatum until now
