Trump suggests allowing Iran to ‘eliminate’ Los Angeles and San Diego at campaign rally

Gov. Gavin Newsom chastised President Trump after he suggested letting Iran “wipe out” Los Angeles and San Diego during a campaign rally in Nebraska.

“It’s a small price to pay to keep the world and our country safe,” Mr. Trump said. “They can take over a city. Let them take over Los Angeles. Let them take over San Diego.”

Attendees applauded after his suggestion.

“After sending the National Guard and Marines to occupy California, Donald Trump now says our foreign enemies should ‘eliminate’ Los Angeles and San Diego,” Newsom wrote on X. “He is deranged and dangerous.”

In addition to being the second most populous city in the country, Los Angeles is home to the headquarters of the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command, aerospace contractors such as 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,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass wrote on X.

San Diego, the eighth largest city in the country, has significant military installations in and around it, including:

• Naval Base San Diego, home port of the United States Pacific Fleet
• Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, where 70,000 civilians and active duty military personnel 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 replaceable. And we are never a ‘small price to pay.’ Keep our city away from your reckless war talk. »