Comments made by President Donald Trump during an Oct. 5 campaign rally in Nebraska sparked immediate backlash, with critics accusing him of inviting foreign attacks on two major U.S. metropolitan areas.
A widely shared TikTok video from the left-leaning outlet Courier Newsroom featured the headline, “Trump says Iran bombing Los Angeles, San Diego would be a ‘very small price to pay.’” Other users on the platform quickly amplified the claim.
On MS Now’s “Morning Joe,” co-host Mika Brzezinski broadcasted the excerpt and asserted that the president was “casually calling for Iran to attack two of the most populous cities in the United States.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom also condemned the remarks on X, writing, “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,” while labeling the president “deranged and dangerous.”
In response, the White House maintained that Democrats and media figures heavily distorted the remarks.
White House communications director Steven Cheung addressed the controversy by reposting an excerpt shared by Headquarters—a progressive media organization founded by former Vice President Kamala Harris—and noted, “He was clearly stating U.S. cities would have been threatened if a nuclear Iran hadn’t been stopped.”
When reached for further comment, the White House press office directed inquiries to Cheung’s statement. Additionally, the official Rapid Response 47 X account pushed back against a Los Angeles Times framing of the speech.
Earlier in the wide-ranging address, Trump pointed to Iran’s nuclear ambitions as the justification for the ongoing conflict, arguing that a resolution to the war would help lower elevated gasoline prices stemming from the hostilities.
“You know, by the way, we’re kicking Iran’s ass. You do know that, right? And that’ll end soon. It’s gonna end one way or the other. It’s gonna end very soon and your prices are gonna come tumbling. All your prices have been tumbling down. In fact, oil is less than it was under Biden, just so you understand. And we are saving this country from a problem, and the Middle East and Israel and everybody. We’re saving the world from what could be one of the worst tragedies ever.”
Over the following seven minutes, Trump touched on several unrelated subjects—praising military operations in Iran, criticizing the media, joking about a potential third term, and noting the large crowd gathered for the event. He ultimately emphasized the significance of upcoming midterm victories for Republicans. “You wanna see a tremendous victory, because it verifies all the things we did,” he remarked.
The video and transcript below capture the specific portion of the speech referencing the two California cities:
“And again, remember with the war, it’s just artificial. It’s a little bit high. It’s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe. They can take out a city. Let them take, let it, let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego. That’s, this is a very small price to pay, and it’s gonna be over very soon. It’s essentially almost over with.
“And they might keep going a little long, you know? They always say they have a big threshold for pain. They need it, let me tell you. They need it. But it’s gonna end very soon, and it’ll end one way or the other, and your gas and your gasoline and all of the things. And don’t forget, we also took on a country known as Venezuela. They never talk about that. They never talk about Venezuela. And we’re taking in hundreds of millions of barrels of oil every week.”
IN CONTEXT: Explore transcripts regarding Trump’s 2024 comments on the auto industry, his statements on Charlottesville demonstrators, and Hillary Clinton’s remarks concerning a “basket of deplorables.”
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