Rally-Goers Cheer as Trump Says, ‘Let Them Take Out Los Angeles’ or ‘San Diego’ 

 

President Donald Trump received cheers and applause at a rally on Monday night when he spoke of California’s two largest cities being taken out.

The president held a rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, where he stumped for Sen. Pete Ricketts (R), who is in an unexpectedly close race against independent candidate Dan Osborn. Trump’s speech resembled many of his previous speeches, including his talking points on the Iran war. But on this occasion he ad-libbed into new territory.

Trump has repeatedly insisted – despite his own intelligence agencies’ findings to the contrary – that Iran was going to imminently obtain a nuclear weapon when he launched the war in February. Thus, Trump says, the higher gas prices resulting from the war are worth it.

“And again, remember, with the war, it’s just artificial,” he told rally-goers. “It’s a little bit high. It’s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe. They could 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 gonna be over with very soon. It’s essentially almost over with. And they might keep going a little long. You know, they always say, ‘They have a big threshold for pain.’ They need it, let me tell you. But it’s gonna end very soon. And it’ll end one way or the other. And your gas and your gasoline and all the other things.”

As Trump said, “Let them take out Los Angeles or San Diego,” the crowd applauded and cheered. It is unclear if the president was imagining a scenario in which the two cities had been obliterated or was suggesting they should be.

“Don’t forget, we took on a country named Venezuela,” he continued. “They never talk about Venezuela. We are taking in hundreds of millions of barrels of oil. We are pouring oil in like nobody’s ever seen.”

Watch above via C-SPAN.

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Mike is a Mediaite senior editor who covers the news in primetime. Follow him on Bluesky.