Trump says he can destroy Modi’s political career? No, here’s the truth
A video circulating on social media claims that US President Trump said he can destroy PM Modi’s political career if he wants to.
By - Rahul Adhikari
Claim:The video shows Donald Trump saying he can end Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s political career if he wants to.
Fact:The claim is misleading. In the original video, Trump’s statement about him ‘destroying’ PM Modi’s career is taken out of context.
Hyderabad: A 10-second video circulating on social media claims that United States (US) President Donald Trump stated that he can destroy Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s political career.
The viral clip shows Trump addressing the press and giving a statement. Several users shared the video on X (Archive) and Facebook (Archive) and claimed that Trump said, “If I want, I can destroy Narendra Modi’s political career but I don’t want to do that.”
One user (Archive) further linked the video to the ongoing Epstein files controversy and wrote, “What file does Trump really have on Modi? The nation wants to know. What fear does this silence testify to? (Translated from Hindi)”
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is misleading. The video is from 2025. Trump did not say that he could destroy Modi’s political career if he wanted to. His statement was shared without context.
Where is the original video from?
We ran a reverse image search on the keyframes of the clip and found that news agency ANI posted an extended version of the video on X on October 16, 2025.
In both the longer video and the circulating clip, Trump is seen wearing a yellow tie and addressing the press from a podium. The 10-second clip was taken from the longer video and shared on social media.
We found that in the original video, responding to a question about his conversation with Modi, Trump said, “Modi is a great man. He loves Trump. Now, I don’t know if the word love… I don’t want to take that any differently. I don’t want to destroy his political career.”
This part of Trump’s statement has caused confusion on social media.
Trump did not actually threaten PM Modi or suggest destroying his political career. He used humour to explain the word ‘love’ in a political context. He clearly mentioned that he did not want the press to interpret the word ‘love’ otherwise, giving it a different meaning. In the original video, he further praised PM Modi and referred to him as a friend.
What did the media report?
The Times of India report, dated October 16, 2025, called Trump’s statement on PM Modi’s political career a ‘joke’.
Calling this statement ‘off-colour’ humour, India Today, on the same day, reported that Trump praised Modi, calling him a ‘great man’ who ‘loves Trump.’ He quickly clarified that he did not want the remark to be taken the wrong way or to affect Modi’s political career.
We found the complete press briefing on the PBS NewsHour YouTube channel.
It was live-streamed on October 16, 2025, where Donald Trump addressed the press alongside FBI Director Kash Patel. After watching the full conference, we found no instance where he said that if he wanted, he could destroy Modi’s career.
At the 37:30-minute mark, Trump can be seen making the ‘Modi loves Trump’ remark, as also seen in the ANI video. He further added, “I have watched India for years. It’s an incredible country, and every single year, you have a new political leader. I mean, some would be in there for a few months, and this was year after year after year. My friend has been there now for a long time, and he has assured me there would be no oil purchases from Russia.”
Based on the evidence, it is clear that Trump’s statement about PM Modi’s political career was shared without context. Therefore, the claim is marked misleading.
