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Trump's Vietnam War remarks draw fact-check over Ho Chi Minh City mix-up: 'I would've won that war in one week'
Donald Trump claimed he could have won the Vietnam War in a week, but his remarks about targeting Ho Chi Minh City prompted criticism.
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President Donald Trump claimed that he could have achieved victory in the Vietnam war within a week, although he seemed to confuse key cities related to the conflict.
During a rally in Dubuque, Iowa, on Sunday, Trump discussed his military operations in Iran and Venezuela, drawing comparisons to previous wars.
“Vietnam, 21 years, thousands and thousands of people killed, hundreds of thousands of people killed,” he stated, "Afghanistan, years and years...we never fight to win."
"I don't know what we do," he continued, adding that “they're stupid, stupid presidents.”
Trump claims he could have won Vietnam War in a week, confuses key cities
He further claimed, “I could have won the Vietnam War in a week, you know. They dropped whatever the hell that red c**p is that they...kept dropping it in the forest.”
The crowd shouted “Agent Orange,” referring to the chemical herbicide used by the US military to destroy Vietnamese forests during the Vietnam War.
“Agent Orange,” Trump repeated, “even though it’s red.” The US President went on to criticize the U.S. military’s strategy, saying the chemical was dropped “in the forest for years and years and years” instead of targeting Ho Chi Minh City and other locations. “I would have won that war in one week,” he claimed.
Trump hit with X community note
Meanwhile, Trump faced sharp criticism on X for making a geographical error while discussing the Vietnam War, prompting a pointed Community Note to be added to a video of his remarks.
The US President claimed he could have brought the conflict to an end in just one week had he been in charge, despite the war lasting nearly two decades and claiming the lives of more than 58,000 American service members.
The Community Note highlighted the apparent flaw in Trump's comments, pointing out that targeting Ho Chi Minh City — formerly known as Saigon — would have meant attacking the capital of US-backed South Vietnam, rather than North Vietnam.
The note clarified: "Ho Chi Minh City was called Saigon during the Vietnam War and was the capital of US-allied South Vietnam; North Vietnam's capital was Hanoi."
