Gov. Gavin Newsom rebuked President Trump after he suggested letting Iran “take out” Los Angeles and San Diego during a campaign rally in Nebraska.
“It’s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe,” Mr. Trump said. “They can take out a city. Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego.”
Attendees cheered after 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,” Newsom wrote on X. “He is deranged and dangerous.”
In addition to being the country’s second-most populous city, LA 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.
“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.
San Diego, the nation’s eighth-largest city, has major military installations in and around it, including:
- Naval Base San Diego, the homeport of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet
- Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, where 70,000 civilians and active-duty service members live and work
- Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, the main training ground for Navy SEALs on the West Coast
“San Diego is not collateral damage,” San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria wrote on X. “We are not expendable. And we are never a ‘small price to pay.’ Keep our city out of your reckless war talk.”
