Trump Nebraska Rally Remark on Los Angeles and San Diego Draws California Response

President Donald Trump told a campaign rally in Nebraska on Monday that Iran should be allowed to take out an American city, naming Los Angeles and San Diego. The remark, made while he was discussing fuel prices and the Iran war, drew immediate responses from California officials.

Westfair Communications and the Los Angeles Times reported that Trump suggested Iran could destroy Los Angeles or San Diego, and that he appeared to argue the fighting would then stop. TMZ, citing a Fox News clip, reported that he made the comment to a packed Nebraska crowd and did not offer evidence that Iran had long-range weapons able to strike those cities.

What California officials said

Governor Gavin Newsom called the comment deranged and dangerous on social media. San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said the city should be kept out of the war talk. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the remark dangerous and said a president's role is to protect the country, not encourage attacks on American lives.

The responses stayed on the wording of the rally line. None of the city or state statements cited a specific Iranian strike plan against California. The dispute is over what the president said in public, and over whether that language is appropriate during an active conflict.

The fuel-price context

Trump linked the comment to higher pump prices, which he has blamed on the Iran war, Democrats and Ukraine. Al Jazeera reported that he has argued those factors, not the war alone, explain soaring U.S. fuel costs. The rally line treated two large California cities as examples in that argument.

Los Angeles and San Diego are among the country's largest metropolitan areas. Any public suggestion that a foreign state could strike them is politically explosive in California, a state the White House and the governor have clashed over repeatedly.

Why the remark is being treated as news

The story is not a confirmed Iranian operation against California. It is a presidential statement at a campaign event, followed by on-the-record replies from the governor and two mayors. Newsrooms from the Los Angeles Times, The Guardian and the BBC led with the comment and the backlash on Tuesday, 6 October 2026.

Readers can weigh the rally wording against the officials' replies. The reporting so far does not establish that Iran has been ordered to attack either city.

Sources

Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, BBC, Westfair Communications and TMZ, 6 October 2026.