x.com/eigenrobot/status/2034809885624357292
1 correction found
"you didn't tell anyone about pearl harbor"
That is not the quote Trump used. Reports from the Oval Office exchange say he said, “Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor?” after saying the U.S. “didn’t tell anybody” about its strikes because it wanted surprise.
Full reasoning
This post presents "you didn't tell anyone about pearl harbor" as a quote, but contemporaneous reporting on the March 19, 2026 Oval Office exchange gives a different wording.
According to AP, Trump first said of the Iran strikes, "We didn't tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise" and then joked, "Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor, OK?"
The Daily Beast likewise reports the sequence as: "We didn't tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Okay, why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor?"
So the post's quoted line appears to combine two separate parts of Trump's remarks into a sentence he did not say. The underlying event happened, but the exact quote in the post is inaccurate.
2 sources
- Japan's Takaichi tries to reaffirm alliance with Trump | AP News
AP reported that Trump said, “We didn't tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor, OK?”
- Japanese Leader Sits Awkwardly as Trump Makes Pearl Harbor Joke
The Daily Beast reported: “We didn't tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Okay, why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor? You believe in surprise, I think much more so than us.”