Gov. Gavin Newsom rebuked President Trump after he appeared to suggest letting Iran “take out” Los Angeles and San Diego if the country developed a nuclear weapon.<\/p>\n
“It’s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe,” Mr. Trump said Monday night during a campaign rally in Nebraska. “They can take out a city. Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego.”<\/p>\n
Attendees cheered after his suggestion. It was not immediately clear what Mr. Trump meant, but the comments were quickly condemned by Newsom and other California officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“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 on X.<\/a> “He is deranged and dangerous.”<\/p>\n Mr. Trump also suggested<\/a> the war in Iran “will end very quickly, one way or the other, very soon.”<\/p>\n In addition to being the country’s second-most populous city,<\/a>\u00a0LA is home to the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command Headquarters, aerospace contractors including Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman, and federally funded research centers such as the RAND Corporation.<\/p>\n “The role of a president is to protect the country, not to actively threaten it and encourage attacks on American lives,” LA Mayor Karen Bass wrote on X.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n San Diego, the nation’s eighth-largest city, has major military installations in and around it, including:<\/p>\n Naval Base San Diego, the homeport of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific FleetMarine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, where 70,000 civilians and active-duty service members live and workNaval Amphibious Base Coronado, the main training ground for Navy SEALs on the West Coast\u00a0<\/p>\n