Losing Los Angeles, San Diego to Iran would be a 'very small price to pay': Trump
Speaking about the military conflict with Iran, Trump said: "They could take out a city. Let 'em take out Los Angeles, let 'em take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay, and it's going to be over with very soon".
President Donald Trump's remarks about Los Angeles and San Diego during a political rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, drew criticism from California officials, after he described wartime economic burdens and rising energy prices as a small cost for national security.
Speaking about the military conflict with Iran, Trump said: "They could take out a city. Let 'em take out Los Angeles, let 'em take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay, and it's going to be over with very soon".
California Governor Gavin Newsom criticised the remarks on X, calling Trump "deranged and dangerous". Newsom pointed to Trump's previous deployment of National Guard troops and Marines to California cities and contrasted that with his comments about foreign enemies potentially targeting Los Angeles and San Diego, says Reuters.
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Newsom's press office said the president was effectively advocating for an attack on more than 10 million US residents.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called Trump's comments "irresponsible threats" and said they could compromise public safety in the nation's second-largest city. Bass rejected White House claims that Trump's comments had been misconstrued, saying the administration's defence had no connection to what the president had said.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said San Diego residents were "not collateral damage" and "never a 'small price to pay,'" and told Trump to leave the city out of his "reckless war talk".
US Representative Sara Jacobs, a Democrat, said her constituents, including active-duty service members and veterans, were not "acceptable collateral damage".
Xavier Becerra, a Democratic candidate for California governor, said 13 million people live across Los Angeles and San Diego counties and that their lives were not a "punchline".
Some Republicans and independents also criticised the remarks. Jim Desmond, a Republican running for Congress in a competitive San Diego-area district, said "no American city is expendable" and that no family should be treated as collateral damage, says The Guardian.
US Representative Kevin Kiley, an Independent who caucuses with Republicans in Northern California, described Trump's remarks as "unhelpful".
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung dismissed the criticism as a "media freakout" that was "not rooted in reality". He said Trump was pointing out that US cities would have faced severe threats had a nuclear Iran not been stopped.
"America is safer because of the President. Iran has no nuclear, no navy, no air force, and no money," Cheung said.
US defence officials have previously said Iran currently lacks the capability to launch a direct missile attack on the US mainland.
San Diego is home to critical national defence infrastructure, including Naval Base San Diego, the largest US naval base on the West Coast, and more than 115,000 active-duty military personnel.
The controversy emerged on the same day that early voting began in California for the upcoming midterm elections.
Online commentary differed over whether Trump's remark was intended as a political jab against Democratic-led cities or reflected a misstatement regarding intelligence. Conservative commentators said Trump was referring strictly to fuel prices rather than military destruction.
