Trump Says Iran Could 'Take Out' LA and San Diego, Calling It a 'Small Price to Pay'

President Donald Trump sparked bipartisan outrage on Monday after suggesting at a Nebraska campaign rally that Iran could “take out” Los Angeles or San Diego and calling it “a very small price to pay” for keeping the world safe, remarks that drew condemnation from California’s leaders and even some Republicans.

President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Grand Island, Nebraska. (File photo via Wikimedia Commons)

Trump was speaking at a nearly 90-minute rally at the Pinnacle Bank Expo Center on the Nebraska State Fairgrounds in Grand Island, where he had travelled to campaign for incumbent Republican Senator Pete Ricketts ahead of the November 3 midterm elections. Discussing the country’s ongoing war with Iran, now in its seventh month, the president told the crowd he wanted to see “a tremendous victory, because it verifies all the things we did.”

“Let ’Em Take Out Los Angeles”

The president appeared to be addressing the rising cost of fuel, fertilizer and other products tied to energy market disruptions from the war, which he has previously shrugged off as the cost of his campaign against Iran.

“And again, remember, with the war, it’s just artificial, it’s a little bit high, it’s a small price to pay,” he told the crowd in the state’s farm belt, according to reports from the rally.

“It’s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, for keeping our country safe. They could take out a city. Let ’em take out Los Angeles, let ’em take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay, and it’s going to be over with very soon,” Trump said, as attendees appeared to cheer.

“It’s essentially almost over with,” Trump went on. “But it’s going to end very soon, and it’s going to end one way or the other.”

The comments were quickly circulated on social media and drew a swift response from California’s Democratic leadership.

Los Angeles, the second-largest city in the United States, which Trump named in his remarks.

Newsom: “Deranged and Dangerous”

Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom called the president “deranged and dangerous” in a post on X, noting that the same president who had sent the National Guard and Marines into California was now suggesting foreign enemies should “take out” its two largest cities.

“After sending the National Guard and Marines to occupy California, Donald Trump is now saying our foreign enemies should ‘take out’ Los Angeles and San Diego,” Newsom wrote. “He is deranged and dangerous.”

Newsom’s office added that the president was talking about an attack on more than 10 million Americans and said “this is not normal.” The governor said he was directing the State Threat Assessment Center to actively monitor the situation in case foreign actors interpreted the president’s remarks as an invitation to target California.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the statements against the city “could potentially compromise our safety.” Bass added: “The role of a president is to protect the country, not to actively threaten it and encourage attacks on American lives.”

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria fired back that his city was “not collateral damage. We are not expendable. And we are never a ‘small price to pay.’ Keep our city out of your reckless war talk.” San Diego, the eighth-largest city in the United States, is home to one of the largest concentrations of US military infrastructure in the world.

Backlash Spills Across Party Lines

The criticism was not confined to Democrats. Republican congressional candidate Jim Desmond said he “vehemently” disagreed with the president’s comments, joining a rare chorus of bipartisan condemnation.

Maria Shriver, the former First Lady of California and ex-wife of former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, also weighed in, calling the remarks an outrage.

“This should outrage every American. This is the president of the United States telling Iran to bomb American cities,” Shriver wrote on X. “I live in Los Angeles, but that’s beside the point. Tomorrow it could be your city. My fellow Americans, this is not normal. This is not funny. This behavior should ring alarm bells for us all.”

According to reporters present, the crowd in Grand Island applauded after the “take out” line, underscoring how routine such remarks have become at the president’s rallies.

White House: “Not Rooted in Reality”

On Tuesday, the White House dismissed the criticism. A White House rapid-response account posted on X that the president’s words were being misinterpreted: “He was saying the US is fighting to STOP Iran from having the ability to take out LA and San Diego with a nuclear weapon — which they would if they had the chance.”

White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung called the media reaction “not rooted in reality,” insisting Trump “was clearly stating US cities would have been threatened if a nuclear Iran hadn’t been stopped.”

“America is safer because of the President,” Cheung wrote on social media. “Iran has no nuclear, no navy, no air force, and no money.”

The Wider War

The controversy comes as the US military campaign against Iran intensifies. Earlier this month the Pentagon moved its B-1 bombers out of RAF Fairford in Britain after what officials described as a credible threat linked to Iran, and a third US aircraft carrier group is now heading for the Middle East as the military builds up the largest concentration of American naval power in the region in months.

Trump has told aides and allies that the war could end “one way or the other” soon, and has hinted that strikes on Iran could follow the midterms. Oil and diesel prices have surged to record highs in the US and Europe as a result of the conflict, prompting the G7 to coordinate a 100-million-barrel release of fuel reserves.

San Diego harbor — the second city named by Trump, and home to a major US military presence.

What This Means

Trump’s remarks land in the middle of a tight midterm campaign in which the cost of living — and specifically fuel prices — is the dominant issue for voters. Polling has shown the president’s approval on inflation at record lows, and his Nebraska rally was aimed squarely at shoring up support for Ricketts, who faces an unexpectedly competitive race against independent candidate Dan Osborn.

By framing the war’s economic costs as “a small price to pay” while naming two American cities as acceptable losses, Trump handed Democrats an unusually potent attack line in the final month of the campaign. Newsom’s office made clear it intends to use it, framing the remarks as evidence of a president willing to bargain away American lives.

At the same time, the White House’s swift reinterpretation of the comments — casting them as a hypothetical about a nuclear-armed Iran — signals that the administration knows the remarks are politically toxic, even if its supporters in the room cheered them on.

What Happens Next

The fallout is likely to play out on the campaign trail rather than in policy. Trump is expected to continue his rally schedule in Republican-leaning states this week, and California’s leadership has signaled it will keep the episode alive, with Newsom directing state security agencies to treat the rhetoric as a potential threat.

With early voting already underway in California and the midterms four weeks away, the episode has added a new flashpoint to a campaign already defined by the economy, the war, and the president’s rhetoric. Whether it moves voters beyond California’s borders — or simply hardens existing divides — will become clearer in the polls in the days ahead.