Politicians slam Trump’s suggestion that Iran ‘take’ San Diego, Los Angeles

Both Democrats and Republicans have expressed outrage at Trump’s remarks that cities could be sacrificed in the Iran war.

US President Donald Trump dances on stage during a rally at Pinnacle Bank Expo Center in Grand Island, Nebraska, on October 5, 2026 [Nathan Howard/Reuters]

Members of the Republican Party have joined Democrats in questioning remarks made by United States President Donald Trump about the California cities of Los Angeles and San Diego.

Much of the backlash came on Tuesday, a day after Trump told a midterm rally in Nebraska that Americans should be willing to make sacrifices to gain victory in the US-Israeli war against Iran.

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Those sacrifices, he implied, could include the destruction of American cities, in case of an Iranian attack.

“It’s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe,” Trump said, seemingly in reference to the knock-on effects of the war, including rising fuel and fertiliser prices.

“They can take out a city. Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay, and it’s going to be over with very soon.”

Trump has downplayed the impact of the war – now in its eighth month – despite polling that shows the conflict is widely unpopular in the US. He has also repeatedly promised the war would end soon, though no lasting ceasefire has been reached so far.

The fallout from his Nebraska remarks was swift. Gavin Newsom, an outspoken critic of Trump and the Democratic governor of California, said the president was “deranged”.

“This is not only madness. This is dangerous,” Newsom said in a video on the social media platform X, in which he called for Congress to rein in Trump’s behaviour.

Newsom, a possible contender in the 2028 presidential race, has clashed repeatedly with Trump.

Last year, the two faced off over Trump’s decision to deploy federal troops to California, as part of an effort to support a crackdown on undocumented immigration in the Los Angeles area.

In December, a federal judge ruled that the deployment had been illegal and ordered its end. Newsom, who opposed the deployment, cited that conflict in his remarks about Trump’s Nebraska rally.

“The president of the United States – the same one who sent in the National Guard into Los Angeles, sent 700 active duty Marines to the second largest city in the United States of America – just invited Iran to take out Los Angeles and San Diego,” Newsom said.

He added that Trump’s remarks should convince those who “didn’t think the November election mattered” to vote in the upcoming midterms.

Some from Trump’s own party have also expressed shock at his remarks.

Jim Desmond, a Republican running in a competitive race for the House of Representatives near San Diego, was among those who distanced themselves from Trump’s statement.

“I vehemently disagree with President Trump’s comments. America must stand up to Iran and defend our interests, but the first responsibility of our Commander in Chief is to protect the American people and our homeland,” Desmond wrote on X.

“No American city is expendable, and no American family should ever be treated as collateral damage.”

US Representative Kevin Kiley, an independent who caucuses with Republicans and is running for re-election in northern California, also called Trump’s comments “unhelpful”.

But the White House has dismissed criticism of the remarks, calling it part of a “media freakout” that “is not rooted in reality”.

“He was clearly stating U.S. cities would have been threatened if a nuclear Iran hadn’t been stopped,” White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung wrote on social media.

“America is safer because of the President. Iran has no nuclear, no navy, no air force, and no money.”

California has the largest population and economy of any state in the US. Because of its population, it also has the most seats in the House of Representatives, at 52.

All 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for grabs in November’s midterms, along with a third of the Senate. Also on the ballot are key state and local races.

With Republicans’ control of Congress on the line, the results of the midterms are expected to weigh heavily on the final two years of Trump’s second term.

民主党人和共和党人都对特朗普关于伊朗战争中可以牺牲城市的言论表示愤慨。

2026年10月5日，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普在内布拉斯加州格兰德岛的Pinnacle Bank Expo Center举行的竞选集会上跳舞。[Nathan Howard/路透社]

共和党成员与民主党人一起质疑美国总统唐纳德·特朗普关于加利福尼亚州洛杉矶和圣地亚哥市的言论。

大部分反对声浪出现在周二，此前一天，特朗普在内布拉斯加州的一次中期选举集会上表示，美国人应该愿意做出牺牲，以在美以对伊朗的战争中取得胜利。

列表 1/3 美国从英国基地撤出轰炸机：伊朗是否在操纵特朗普的战争计划？

特朗普将美国燃油价格飙升归咎于民主党和乌克兰，而非伊朗战争（共3条，此为第2条）。

列出特朗普关于让伊朗轰炸洛杉矶和圣地亚哥的三个笑话中的第三个

他暗示，这些牺牲可能包括摧毁美国城市，以防伊朗发动袭击。

“为了维护世界安全，维护我们国家的安全，付出这点代价是很小的，”特朗普说道，他似乎指的是战争带来的连锁反应，包括燃料和化肥价格上涨。

“他们可以摧毁一座城市。让他们摧毁洛杉矶吧。让他们摧毁圣地亚哥吧。这只是很小的代价，而且很快就会结束。”

尽管民调显示这场冲突在美国国内普遍不得人心，但特朗普一直淡化这场已持续八个月的战争的影响。他还一再承诺战争很快就会结束，但迄今为止尚未达成任何持久停火协议。

他在内布拉斯加州的言论迅速引发了轩然大波。加州民主党州长、特朗普的公开批评者加文·纽森称总统“精神错乱”。

“这不仅是疯狂，而且是危险的，”纽森在社交媒体平台X上发布的一段视频中说道，他在视频中呼吁国会约束特朗普的行为。

纽森是2028年总统大选的潜在竞争者，他曾多次与特朗普发生冲突。

去年，两人曾就特朗普决定向加利福尼亚州部署联邦军队一事发生冲突，此举旨在支持洛杉矶地区打击非法移民的行动。

去年12月，一名联邦法官裁定此次部署非法，并下令停止。纽森州长反对此次部署，他在评论特朗普在内布拉斯加州的竞选集会时提到了这一争议。

“美国总统——就是那个派遣国民警卫队进驻洛杉矶，向美国第二大城市派遣700名现役海军陆战队员的总统——竟然邀请伊朗占领洛杉矶和圣地亚哥，”纽森说道。

他还补充说，特朗普的言论应该能说服那些“认为11月大选无关紧要”的人在即将到来的中期选举中投票。

特朗普所在政党的一些成员也对他的言论表示震惊。

吉姆·德斯蒙德是一位共和党人，他正在圣地亚哥附近参加一场竞争激烈的众议院选举，他是与特朗普的声明划清界限的人之一。

“我强烈反对特朗普总统的言论。美国必须挺身对抗伊朗，捍卫我们的利益，但我们三军统帅的首要职责是保护美国人民和我们的国土，”德斯蒙德在X上写道。

“没有一座美国城市是可以牺牲的，也没有一个美国家庭应该被视为附带损害。”

美国众议员凯文·基利（Kevin Kiley）是一名独立人士，他与共和党人一起参加党团会议，正在北加州竞选连任。他也称特朗普的言论“无益”。

但白宫驳斥了对这些言论的批评，称其是“媒体的歇斯底里”，“脱离了现实”。

白宫通讯主任史蒂文·张在社交媒体上写道：“他明确表示，如果伊朗的核计划没有被阻止，美国城市将会受到威胁。”

“因为有了总统，美国更安全了。伊朗没有核武器，没有海军，没有空军，也没有钱。”

加利福尼亚州是美国人口和经济规模最大的州。由于人口众多，它在众议院也拥有最多的席位，共52席。

11月的中期选举将改选众议院全部435个席位以及参议院三分之一的席位。此外，一些重要的州级和地方级选举也将在此次选举中进行。

由于共和党对国会的控制权岌岌可危，中期选举的结果预计将对特朗普第二个任期的最后两年产生重大影响。