During a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Trump threatened to blow up Oman, a United States ally near Iran, and people couldn't quite believe their ears.
Trump was answering questions from reporters about whether he would accept a deal to end the war in Iran if it meant giving over control of the Strait of Hormuz to Iran and Oman. He turned down the idea, but then made a startling threat.
"The Strait is going to be open to everybody. It's international waters," Trump said. "Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we'll have to blow them up. They understand that."
"He is out of his mind," former congressman David Stockman wrote.
"Totally normal thing to say," joked former congressman Justin Amash. "Great answer," quipped national security analyst Rebeccah Heinrichs.
"How many countries has Trump threatened to invade, blow up, or return to the Stone Age?" Middle East policy analyst Chris Doyle asked. "Oman is an unlikely addition to the list."
"Impressed that T***p has heard of Oman," novelist Joyce Carol Oates posted, refusing to write Trump's name. "But can he find it on the map?"
Wall Street Journal correspondent Laurence Norman noticed the stunned reaction of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was sitting next to Trump.
"Rubio's head movement when Trump threatens to blow up Oman is something for a slow-motion GIF," Norman noted.
"Rubio's facial muscles couldn't have shut any stronger," Polish foreign policy analyst Pawel Wojcik wrote.
Some couldn't believe that Trump actually meant what he said. However, the State Department followed up by posting his remarks from its official X account.
"Okay, so he did mean Oman, then," Gregory Brew, senior analyst for the Eurasia Group, posted.
"They are officially threatening to blow up Oman," journalist Sulaiman Ahmed wrote. "Welcome to Barbaria."
Middle East policy commentator Sami Hamdi described the State Department's doubling down as "Extraordinary!" Hamdi added, "Trump is bullying and alienating every ally in the region."
Daniel McAdams, the executive director of the Ron Paul Institute, was similarly stunned, pointing out that Trump's comments were "re-posted by the center of U.S. diplomacy. Think about that."