Democrats and some Republican officials are furious over President Donald Trump’s comment about a possible Iranian action in Los Angeles and San Diego.
Speaking about Iran at a campaign rally in Nebraska, Trump stated, “Let them take out Los Angeles, let them take out San Diego…this is a very small price to pay.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom said the utterance was dangerous and puts a target on two of America’s biggest cities and one of the largest naval hubs.
Newsom directed the State Threat Assessment Center to monitor the situation in case foreign actors interpret the controversial remark as an invitation to hit the state.
Mayor Karen Bass said while LA was “accustomed” to Trump targeting the city and the people, it isn’t less outrageous than a call on a foreign enemy to destroy an American city.
”San Diego is not collateral damage. We are not expendable,” declared Mayor Todd Gloria, who advised the U.S. leader to keep the city out of “reckless war talk.”
Tom Cochran, Executive Director of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, stressed that President Trump ”crossed a line that no President should ever approach.”
Cochran insisted no President should ever describe an attack on an American city by a hostile foreign power as acceptable, not at a rally, as a joke, nor under any circumstances.
The mayors urged elected officials, regardless of party, to denounce Trump’s remarks and to reaffirm their sworn obligation to protect every community and the people.
White House Director of Communications, Steven Cheung, defended the President in a post on X, saying the “media freakout is not rooted in reality.”
According to the aide, his boss’s position was that American cities would have been threatened if Iran had not been stopped from developing a nuclear weapon.
Outrage as Trump suggests Iran ‘take out’ Los Angeles, San Diego