The White House is insisting that the media misread President Trump when he said at a Nebraska rally on Monday that Iran could be allowed to “take out” Los Angeles and San Diego. Aides say the remark was about preventing exactly that.
Trump was discussing rising prices tied to the Iran war, which he called “a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe.” He went on: “They could take out a city. Let them take out Los Angeles; let them take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay. And it’s gonna be over with very soon.” The crowd cheered.
Condemnation from California
Democrats reacted quickly, and the comments made national headlines. The Los Angeles Times ran the headline “Trump suggests letting Iran ‘take out’ Los Angeles and San Diego at campaign rally.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom wrote on social media that Trump had sent the National Guard and Marines to occupy California and was now saying foreign enemies should “take out” the two cities. “He is deranged and dangerous,” Newsom wrote. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the statements against her city “are dangerous and could potentially compromise our safety.”
The White House response
The White House Rapid Response account answered the Times on X: “No, he didn’t, you buffoons.” It said Trump meant the U.S. is fighting to stop Iran from gaining the ability to hit LA and San Diego with a nuclear weapon. Communications Director Steven Cheung wrote that “the media freakout over President Trump’s comments is not rooted in reality.” Trump, he said, was clearly stating that U.S. cities would have been threatened had a nuclear Iran not been stopped.
A somewhat unlikely ally appeared in CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale, who has spent years debunking the president’s claims. Dale challenged a post from Headquarters, an account linked to Kamala Harris, which captioned a Trump video: “Let ’em take out Los Angeles and San Diego, it’s a small price to pay.” That, Dale wrote, is not a direct quote and he did not think it a correct paraphrase. Trump has repeatedly argued that costs like higher gas prices are small next to what an unchecked Iran could allegedly do. Dale added that Trump’s “rambling and incomplete fashion” of speaking makes his meaning hard to pin down.
