March 26 2026, 08:15 
Donald Trump recently told Americans they should be grateful for the war in Iran because Iranians “throw gays off the buildings” and Americans don’t do that.
Trump made the comment during a conversation earlier this month with MAGA influencer and boxer Jake Paul.
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Paul lavished praise on Trump for attacking Iran, telling him it was a “phenomenal” decision.
“I was shocked that so many activists in America didn’t like it,” Paul said, “but meanwhile they’re like, we support women, we want women to have all these rights. Meanwhile, you’re liberating the women of Iran, and then they have an issue with it. I thought that was very confusing.”
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Trump then replied with a series of lies: “We support gays, but they throw gays off the buildings… I think I have tremendous support on this. This is something that’s been incredible. I have the best poll numbers I’ve ever had now, and it’s not because of this, I think. You know, the economy’s great. You take a little bit of a winding road for a little while, but you have to wipe out the evil. It’s an evil place. They’re evil people.”
Iran does have horrific punishments for homosexuality, including flogging and the death penalty, but the attacks on Iran will not change that. The U.S. is not seeking concessions on LGBTQ+ rights from Iran.
Anti-queer conservatives in the U.S., like Trump, often resort to “homonationalism,” citing Muslim-majority countries’ anti-LGBTQ+ policies as a pretext for racism, Islamophobia, and violence against Muslims.
However, Trump and his cronies have relentlessly supported people and policies that seek to decimate both equal rights and quality of life for the entire LGBTQ+ community. To name just a few, there’s the administration’s attack on DEI programs, its revocation of funding for HIV prevention initiatives, and Hits removal of hundreds of sexual orientation & gender-identity related questions from government surveys, projects, and forms.
Not only that, but a pair of gay asylum seekers from Iran has been fighting to stay in the U.S. since the Trump administration ordered their deportation back to their home country, where they could be killed for a previous conviction of homosexual activity.
Then, of course, there are Trump’s vicious and brutal attacks on trans people. As writer D’Anne Witkowski put it in an op-ed for Pride Source, “If you are anti-trans, you can’t call yourself a friend of the gays. If you’re coming for transgender people, you’re coming for the whole community.”
Witkowski slammed “blood-thirsty, death-loving, human rights-hating conservatives’ for “using the gays to justify the war in Iran,” and scorned Paul for claiming Trump is liberating Iranian women.
“Apparently, step one was to kill their daughters,” Witkowski wrote, referring to the bombing of an Iranian girls’ school for which the U.S. is likely responsible.
Trump also lied about having incredible poll numbers. He doesn’t. Earlier this week, CNN’s chief data analyst, Harry Enten, outlined Americans’ massive dissatisfaction with Donald Trump’s handling of the economy.
Enten said that at this point in their presidencies, Barack Obama and George W. Bush had net economic approval ratings of -25 and -32, respectively. Trump, on the other hand, sits at a whopping -48.
The president also claimed he has “tremendous support” for the war in Iran, despite the fact that the polls show otherwise. A recent NPR/PBS News/Marist Poll shows 56% of Americans strongly oppose or oppose military action in Iran, compared to 44% who strongly support or support it. The poll also found that 61% of independents oppose the war.
Paul teased the interview with Trump by posting a video of himself and the president dancing to “YMCA.” In the comments, folks called the president out for his casual behavior as prices soar and the world generally descends into Trump-caused chaos.
One person simply wrote, “Nothing to dance or smile about right now.” Another said, “Dude is making my life more expensive in every way and Jake is dancing with him like nothing bad happening?”
@jakepaul Amazing day and interview coming with DJT @President Donald J Trump
♬ original sound – Jake Paul
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