Let Them Take Out Los Angeles: Trump’s Nebraska Remark Ignites a California Firestorm

The line in Nebraska

The rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, on Oct. 5 was meant to be about the war with Iran and the price of living through it. A few minutes in, President Donald Trump said he was saving the world from what could be one of the worst tragedies ever and that when the war ended the price of oil would come tumbling down. He returned to the subject later, riffing as he often does, and veered into a passage about economic pain.

“It’s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe,” he said. “They can 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 going to be over with very soon. It’s essentially almost over with and they might keep going a little long.”

Sections of the crowd cheered as he named the two California cities. The video was authentic and the quote was correctly attributed. Within hours an X post captioned “Trump on Iran: Let ’em take out Los Angeles and San Diego, it’s a small price to pay” was circulating with more than 15 million views.

The joint U.S.-Israel operation on Iran had begun earlier in the year, with the assassination of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Feb. 28, 2026, and thousands of Iranians killed. An October poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found only 28% of Americans approve of how Trump is handling Iran as the cost of gas and groceries continued to soar.

California erupts

News of the remarks landed in Southern California on a sweltering Tuesday in a record-breaking heatwave. In Los Angeles, a 28-year-old hair stylist who declined to give her full name said she was scrolling social media early that morning and was shocked to see Trump suggest Iran should decimate her hometown. “I was just thinking what the fuck is wrong with him?” she said while waiting for a Waymo outside a grocery store in Koreatown. “He hates us. He hates LA. He hates any Democratic state… It’s just a really sad situation.”

Downtown resident Jens Midthun, who often stops at Grand Central Market for coffee, said the president has tried to paint Los Angeles as a dystopia despite it being a wonderful place. “It reminded me that the president is obsessed with us — obsessed with California, obsessed with Los Angeles,” he said. “We try not to think about him and yet, here he is with Los Angeles’s name right there in his mouth.”

The political response was immediate. California Gov. Gavin Newsom posted on X: “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. He is deranged and dangerous.” His press office added: “Let’s be clear: The President is advocating for an attack on 10+ million U.S. residents in two of America’s largest cities.”

The next day Newsom called the remarks “dangerous — if not treasonous — putting a target on two of our biggest cities and one of America’s largest naval hubs” and said he was directing California’s State Threat Assessment Center to actively monitor the situation in the event foreign actors interpret the President’s remarks as an invitation to target California. San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria wrote that the city was not collateral damage and demanded Trump keep it out of his “reckless war talk.” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass described the comments as threats and an attempt to encourage attacks on American lives.

Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff posted: “The President says the Iran war will end ‘very soon.’ How many times have we heard that promise? And if it means attacks on two major American cities in the process, he is not troubled by the cost.” Sen. Bernie Sanders wrote that the annihilation of two major American cities — more than 5 million people — is not a “small price to pay” for Trump’s illegal war. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said: “The nuclear annihilation of an American city is no laughing matter.”

The White House defense

The White House rejected the interpretation that Trump was inviting an attack. Spokesperson Steven Cheung replied on X that Trump “was clearly stating U.S. cities would have been threatened if a nuclear Iran hadn’t been stopped.” Communications Director Steven Cheung later wrote that the media freakout over President Trump’s comments is not rooted in reality and that he was clearly stating U.S. cities would have been threatened if a nuclear Iran hadn’t been stopped. “America is safer because of the President. Iran has no nuclear, no navy, no air force, and no money,” he wrote.

The White House Rapid Response account called Los Angeles Times reporters “buffoons” and insisted Trump was saying the U.S. is fighting to stop Iran from having the ability to take out Los Angeles and San Diego with a nuclear weapon — which they would if they had the chance.

Fact-checkers noted the confusing phrasing but pointed to context. Trump’s remarks followed a discussion of higher gas prices, which he described as artificial and a little bit high. “It’s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe. They could take out a city,” the account said. The interpretation offered was that he meant the war would prevent Iran from posing a threat to U.S. cities, and higher gas prices are a small sacrifice to make. Trump has used similar language before, saying in Iowa on Sept. 28 that if Iran had a nuclear weapon, “let them take out a city with a nuclear weapon. I’m not only talking about Israel and big parts of the Middle East, but let them hit us with a nuclear weapon.”

A military town hears the words

The reaction in San Diego was especially raw. The city is home to roughly a quarter-million veterans and one of the largest concentrations of military personnel in the U.S. Defense spending accounts for 22% of San Diego’s gross regional product, and the region supports nearly 357,000 local jobs representing $61.3 billion of county economy. Naval Base San Diego is the home port of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet, and Naval Amphibious Base Coronado is the main training center for Navy Seals on the West Coast. Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton employs 70,000 service members and civilians.

Gil Field, communications director for San Diego Veterans for Peace, said the statement was so irrational it was hard to explain. “It sounded like he was willing to give us up,” he said. “It’s horrible and we’re horrified.” He added that this is a military town, so you’ve got bipartisan objections to his comments. “So for him to say this about San Diego is particularly galling. He did San Diego a disservice.”

Republican congressional candidate Jim Desmond, a Navy veteran running in San Diego, offered a pointed rebuke. “I served to protect Americans, not write off American cities as an acceptable price of war. Our job is to keep Americans safe, stand up to our enemies, and make sure a threat like that never becomes reality,” he said on X. “No American city is expendable, and no American family should ever be treated as collateral damage.”

Paula Whitsell, chair of the Republican Party of San Diego County, criticized what she called biased media for taking the president’s remarks completely out of context. “No one should believe for a single moment that he wants ANY American city attacked,” she said. “The president was simply speaking to his belief that confronting Iran is worth it to eliminate the threat to our country and named two cities as an example of what could happen if we don’t act, not as an invitation for them to be attacked.”

The midterms backdrop

The controversy landed as the country heads toward midterms with voters angry about prices. The AP-NORC poll found most Americans blame Trump for high prices as midterms approach. Supporters dismissed the uproar. Blake Marnell, who lives in San Diego and attended the Nebraska rally, said by phone: “I defend his comments absolutely. It is not inappropriate to mention something like that now because you have to take it in the context in which it is spoken. If you look at that context, it’s appropriate for a rally in which the president is addressing his base.” He added that Democrats have a long history of flying off the handle at any remark President Trump makes and that in two days no one will be talking about it.

Republican congressman Darrell Issa, who represents parts of southern California, did not directly respond to the remarks but defended the president, saying he had taken historic and concrete action to eliminate the nuclear threat, protect every inch of the homeland, and ensure Iran never threatens America or her allies ever again.

The episode illustrates how a war metaphor can harden into a perceived threat. For residents of Los Angeles and San Diego, the names spoken aloud in a campaign speech felt personal, a reminder of a president who has spent years attacking immigrant families and Democratic states. For the White House, the line was a reference to a deterrence argument about preventing a nuclear Iran from striking American cities. Both readings remain on the table, and California’s leaders have moved to treat the rhetoric as a security concern, while the political fight over the war, prices, and the 2028 horizon continues to simmer.