President Donald Trump returned Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, to the rally riff that has thrown his own White House into damage control, telling supporters in San Antonio that Iran should be left to fire a missile at San Diego or Los Angeles — before insisting his administration would never allow it.
The 80-year-old president was again defending the costs of the war with Iran, which began in February, while campaigning for Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton. He described pump prices as a little more, maybe more than a little, and claimed Americans were spending less on gasoline than they did under the Biden administration.
“Let them hit San Diego. Let them hit Los Angeles, and you want to see some bad things happen, you want to see a country that would be in freefall,” he said. Trump then added a caveat, telling the crowd his administration protects American cities and would not let that happen.
What He Said in Nebraska
The uproar began Monday, Oct. 5, at the Pinnacle Bank Expo Center in Grand Island, Neb., where Trump was stumping for Republican candidates ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms amid grim polling for his party. Arguing that higher gas prices were an acceptable cost of keeping the country safe, he pivoted to the danger of a nuclear-armed Iran.
“They can take out a city—let ’em take, let ’em take out Los Angeles, let ’em take out San Diego. That’s—this is a very small price to pay,” he said, drawing cheers and applause. He went on to predict the seven-month-old war would be over soon, and said it would end one way or the other.
The remark landed hard in California, where the Los Angeles and San Diego metropolitan areas are home to more than 16 million people combined — and where the commander in chief who controls the nuclear codes has faced mounting scrutiny over his cognitive health. Trump deflected questions from reporters who pressed him to explain the Monday comments.
The White House Lashes Out
Administration officials insisted the president had been stripped of context. Responding Tuesday, Oct. 6, to a Los Angeles Times headline reading “Trump suggests letting Iran ‘take out’ Los Angeles and San Diego at campaign rally,” the White House Rapid Response account on X shot back: “No, he didn’t, you buffoons.” The account said Trump had been describing what Iran would do to the two cities with a nuclear weapon if it ever got one.
White House communications director Steven Cheung said on X that the reaction was not grounded in reality, arguing the president had been pointing to the threat American cities would face had a nuclear Iran not been stopped, and that Iran now has no nuclear program, navy, air force or money.
Some of that defense came from an unexpected quarter. CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale pushed back on a viral post from the Kamala Harris-linked Headquarters account that rendered the Nebraska remarks as a quote, writing that it was neither a direct quote nor, in his view, an accurate paraphrase. Dale still faulted the delivery, saying the intended point was clear only to those fluent in what he called “TrumpRallySpeak.”
California Leaders Erupt
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, writing on X, said Trump had sent the National Guard and Marines to occupy the state and was now telling foreign enemies to take out Los Angeles and San Diego, calling him deranged and dangerous. His press office said the president was advocating an attack on more than 10 million U.S. residents in two of the country’s biggest cities, and later shared footage of the San Antonio remarks with a profane caption telling him to be quiet.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the president had suggested a foreign government attack her city and warned that his words could compromise public safety. “The role of a president is to protect the country, not to actively threaten it and encourage attacks on American lives,” Bass said. Appearing Tuesday, Oct. 6, on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360°,” she said she was horrified, and noted the remarks were on tape for the world to hear.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said his city is neither collateral damage nor expendable and asked that it be kept out of the president’s war talk. Maria Shriver, a member of the Kennedy family and a former first lady of California, wrote on X that the behavior should alarm every American and that any city could be next.
Leak Points to Strikes Before the Vote
The political stakes sharpened Wednesday, Oct. 7, with a report that the White House has instructed the Pentagon to prepare options for attacks on Iran that could be carried out before Election Day. Two administration officials told The Atlantic that military planners have been ordered to identify possible targets, with U.S. Central Command developing the proposals; no decision has been made on the scale of any operation, or whether to proceed. The Pentagon had already presented Trump with post-election escalation options, including major strikes on Iranian energy facilities, and renewed action could expose about 50,000 U.S. troops in the region to Iranian retaliation.
The war has become a drag on Republicans. Americans are paying an average of $4.37 per gallon for gasoline, up from less than $3 before the conflict began, and Paxton has privately told donors that affordability is by far his biggest problem. Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico leads him by 6 points in a New York Times/Siena University poll conducted Sept. 21-30. A White House official said every option is available to the president at any time, but did not address whether strikes were being weighed before the midterms.
