Trump named Los Angeles and San Diego while discussing the Iran war and rising fuel prices, without citing a specific threat to either city.
Los Ángeles Press
LOS ANGELES — With 29 days to go before the U.S. midterm elections, President Donald Trump told supporters at a campaign rally in Nebraska to “let them take out Los Angeles” and “let them take out San Diego,” calling that scenario “a very small price to pay.”
“They could take out a city,” Trump said while discussing the war with Iran and rising fuel prices. “Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego. That’s a very small price to pay.”
The crowd responded with applause.
Trump made the remarks in Grand Island, Nebraska, at a rally held to support Republican candidates ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections. During the same speech, he urged supporters to vote as though his own name were on the ballot.
Nebraska, a state Trump carried by more than 20 points in 2024, has a U.S. Senate race this year between Republican Pete Ricketts and independent Dan Osborn. Trump has been traveling the country to campaign for Republican candidates in the final weeks before elections that will determine control of Congress.
The president also addressed rising fuel prices during the rally, tying them to the war with Iran. It was during that portion of his speech that he named Los Angeles and San Diego as cities that could be destroyed and described such a loss as an acceptable cost.
Los Angeles and San Diego were the only U.S. cities Trump named in that scenario. Both are in California, where the state government and the White House have been involved in a series of political and legal confrontations during his administration. Gov. Gavin Newsom has also become one of Trump’s most prominent political adversaries.
Trump presented no information indicating that Iran had made a specific threat against Los Angeles or San Diego.
Iran’s known ballistic missile capabilities also do not establish a current conventional threat to the U.S. West Coast. Tehran has publicly maintained a range limit of about 1,240 miles for its ballistic missiles, although U.S. officials have warned for years that Iran could eventually develop longer-range technology.
Newsom responded after the rally.
“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 called the president “deranged and dangerous.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said Trump had raised the prospect of a foreign government attacking an American city and warned about the implications of such rhetoric for the safety of its residents.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said his city was “not collateral damage” and its residents were “not expendable,” rejecting the idea that they could be considered “a small price to pay.”
Trump’s remarks came during the final stretch of a midterm campaign in which he has increased his appearances on behalf of Republican candidates. In Nebraska, he explicitly asked supporters to vote as though he himself were running on Nov. 3.
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