Jack White Slams Trump’s Comment That Iran ‘Take Out’ L.A., San Diego: ‘Worst American of All Time’

The president garnered fierce backlash from California leaders following his comments at a rally in Nebraska Donald Trump’s remark that Iran could “take out” Los Angeles and San Diego has sparked fierce backlash from California politicians – and a strongly worded rebuttal from the White House. California Governor Gavin Newsom condemned the comment – made by Trump at a campaign rally in Nebraska – as “deranged and dangerous,” while LA Mayor Karen Bass described it as a threat and an attempt to “encourage attacks on American lives”.

According to the White House, however, Trump was saying that American cities would have been threatened by Iran had he not launched a war there earlier this year. Both LA and San Diego house major US military installations including Navy ports and Air Force bases. Trump, while speaking on Monday in Nebraska about the Iran conflict, said: “It’s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe.

Let them take out Los Angeles, let them take out San Diego.” There were cheers from sections of the audience as the comments about the two Californian cities were made. The morning after Trump’s statement, Governor Newsom announced that the “dangerous – if not treasonous” statement had prompted him to direct California’s State Threat Assessment Center to “monitor the situation in the event that foreign actors interpret the remarks as an invitation” to target California. The agency is designed to detect and prevent security threats in the state.

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria wrote that the city was not collateral damage in a post on X, while demanding Trump keep it out of his “reckless war talk”. Trump is yet to respond to the statements made by California’s leaders. In a post on X, White House Communications Director Stephen Cheung described the “media freakout” over Trump’s comments as “not rooted in reality”.

“He was clearly stating US cities would have been threatened if a nuclear Iran hadn’t been stopped,” Cheung wrote. “America is safer because of the President. Iran has no nuclear, no navy, no air force, and no money”.

The president and other administration officials often claim that disrupting Iran’s nuclear programme was essential for US national security, and that any issues that have stemmed from the conflict were necessary. A separate X post from the official White House rapid response account described journalists from the Los Angeles Times reporting on the comments as “buffoons” and again… Gavin Newsom called the remarks "deranged", but the White House said Trump was warning of the risk of a nuclear Iran.