(Gray News) – President Donald Trump is facing backlash after making a statement Monday night during a political rally suggesting that Iran could take out two cities in the United States.
“It’s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe. They can take out a city. Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego,” Trump said.
Trump was speaking at a political rally in Nebraska when he made the controversial statement.
People at the rally celebrated his suggestion.
“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,” Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote on X. “He is deranged and dangerous.”
Los Angeles is the most populous city in California and the second most populous in the United States. It has one of the busiest container ports in the Americas and is home to the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command Headquarters.
LA Mayor Karen Bass reacted to Trump’s statement on X saying, “The role of a president is to protect the country, not to actively threaten it and encourage attacks on American lives.”
“San Diego is 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 Mayor Todd Gloria wrote on X.
San Diego is home to Naval Base San Diego, where the Navy SEALs train. There is a large military presence in the city with 70,000 civilians and active-duty service members living and working in the area.
After his shocking statements, Trump claimed the Iran war was close to the end and is “essentially almost over with.”
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