There are a lot of reasons that some lawmakers list for not supporting statehood for the District of Columbia—including strict readings of the Constitution and claims that the city is incapable of governing itself, a racist dog whistle.

Rarely are right-wing politicians quite so direct about their motivations as President Donald Trump was in an interview with the New York Post on Monday.

The president told the outlet that D.C. will never be a state, because Republicans would never be “stupid” enough to let it happen:

“They want to do that so they pick up two automatic Democrat — you know it’s a 100 percent Democrat, basically — so why would the Republicans ever do that? That’ll never happen unless we have some very, very stupid Republicans around that I don’t think you do. You understand that, right?” Trump said.

Plenty of other Republican leaders studiously avoid saying that their lack of support for D.C. statehood is politically motivated. But Trump came right out with it, a la John Kasich in 2016, who told the Washington Post editorial board that D.C. was gunning for statehood because “they know that’s just more votes in the Democratic Party.” (To his credit—or his detriment, depending on how you look at it—Kasich wasn’t quite such a hardliner on the issue, and under increased questioning relented that he might “have to flip-flop my position, okay?”)

Trump was a lot more sure of his opinion on the matter. “D.C. will never be a state,” he told the New York Post. “You mean District of Columbia, a state? Why? So we can have two more Democratic — Democrat senators and five more congressmen? No thank you. That’ll never happen.”

And yet more:

“Why don’t you just take two senators and put them in there? No, it’s not gonna happen. And it how many House seats is it? Like four, three or four? Whatever it is. You’d have three or four more congressmen and two more senators, every single day of every single year. And it would never change. No, the Republicans would never do that.”

(For what it’s worth, under a bill that’s been approved by the House, D.C. would only get one seat in the House).

Not only is this a departure from general Republican messaging on the matter–which normally focuses on the Founding Fathers or ethics scandals—it’s also a departure from Trump’s own previous statements. In a 2015 appearance on Meet The Press, Trump said that he “would like to do what’s good for the District of Columbia, because I love the people.”

D.C. has a population of more that 700,000 people, larger than both Wyoming and Vermont. The District’s status has real repercussions for its people even beyond a lack of representation in Congress: the federal coronavirus relief package gave D.C. less than half the money allocated to states.

In February, the House of Representatives’ Committee on Oversight and Reform voted to approve a bill that would make D.C. the 51st state, marking the first time in almost three decades that members of Congress have voted on a statehood measure. House leadership has promised that the bill will see a vote before the full body, where it currently has enough support to pass. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has pledged that it will go nowhere in the Senate.

This story has been updated to reflect the accurate date and context of the House of Representatives committee vote.