False claim Trump said he wants 'iron dome' for defense against Canada | Fact check
The claim: Trump said he wants to build an ‘iron dome’ to defend US from Canada
Former President Donald Trump speaks to a crowd of supporters during a rally at Avflight Saginaw in Freeland on Wednesday, May 1, 2024.
A May 1 Threads post (direct link,
“In my next term, we will build a great ‘Iron Dome’ very much like Israel has, but even better,” says Trump in the clip. “I’m saying, ‘why don’t we have that?’ We should have that too. We have a lot of hostile people out there. We have a lot of bad actors out there. We’re going to build the greatest dome of them all.”
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The post’s caption reads, “Donald Trump wants to build an ‘iron dome’ at the border of our country to ‘defend us’ from Canada. Yes, Canada.”
The post was liked more than 2,000 times in two days.
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Our rating: False
The post misrepresents Trump’s remarks. While the former president pledged to build an anti-missile system like Israel’s Iron Dome if elected to a second term, he did not mention using it to defend against Canada, according to video of his full campaign speech.
Post misrepresents Trump’s ‘iron dome’ remarks at campaign rally
The 23-second clip in the Threads post shows Trump delivering a speech at a campaign stop on May 1 in Freeland, Michigan, about 50 miles north of Flint, Michigan. The clip shows Trump promising to build an air-defense system like Israel’s Iron Dome should he win a second presidential term, a pledge he’s previously made on the campaign trail.
But Trump makes no mention in the clip of wanting to build the anti-missile system to defend the U.S. from Canada, a U.S. ally. Nor does he mention protection from Canada at any point in the speech, footage of which was shared by C-SPAN and Newsmax.
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Rather, Trump raised the specter of threats from unspecified “hostile people” and “bad actors.”
Here’s the full comment:
In my next term we will build a great iron dome. Very much like Israel has but even better. I’m saying, ‘Why don’t we have that? We should have that, too.’ We have a lot of hostile people out there. We have a lot of bad actors out there. We’re going to build the greatest dome of them all. We’re going to have it all made right here in America. Some of it’s going to be made right here in Michigan. State of the art missile defense shield that will be entirely built in America and will create jobs, jobs, jobs. And we’re going to have the greatest dome of them all. We’re going to have greater – you saw how effective that was with Israel last week, with 300 rockets shot. Every one of them knocked out. Every one of them knocked down. Probably if they didn’t have it they wouldn’t even have Israel right now if you think about it, right. All those would have hit various locations. Virtually none of them got through. Amazing. We’re going to have a more sophisticated version. We have the technology. We have the genius. We’re going to have a more – we’re going to build a great iron dome. We’re going to have a shield around our country, and it’s made here.
Israel, with assistance from the U.S., the U.K. and Jordan, intercepted 300 drones and missiles launched by Iran against Israel on April 13, USA TODAY reported.
The Threads user who shared the video did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: False claim Trump said he wants ‘iron dome’ for defense against Canada | Fact check