Trump draws cheers, then criticism for musing about Iran taking out LA and San Diego

During a rally Monday night in Nebraska, President Donald Trump was going through his usual insistence that gas prices are only temporarily high and worth it as part of his war on Iran.

Then he added a new wrinkle, floating the idea that Tehran could “take out” two major American cities.

“They could take out a city,” he said. "Let ‘em take out Los Angeles. Let ’em take out San Diego.”

He continued as the crowd laughed and cheered: “This is a very small price to pay, and it’s going to be over with very soon.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who may run for president in 2028, answered on X, calling Trump “deranged and dangerous.”

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, who is running for reelection against Councilmember Nithya Raman, called the president's statements dangerous in a social media post.

"The role of a president is to protect the country, not to actively threaten it and encourage attacks on American lives," she wrote.

Sam Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, in another post on X, said "San Diego is not collateral damage. We are not expendable. And we are never a 'small price to pay."

Trump has a history of denigrating U.S. cities, especially the largest ones that lean heavily Democratic. Los Angeles was among the cities where Trump deployed federal military personnel for what he said was a crackdown on crime, despite local authorities not wanting the troops.

At a recent North Carolina campaign rally, Trump said the state’s cities are “blood-soaked killing fields.” North Carolina’s violent crime rate ranks in the middle third of states, according to FBI statistics.

LAist staff contributed to this report.