CNN Fact Checker Daniel Dale Defends Trump Over ‘Let ‘Em Take Out’ Los Angeles, San Diego Clip

Here’s something you don’t see everyday: CNN’s resident fact checker Daniel Dale defending President Donald Trump.

But that’s what happened on Tuesday morning, with Dale calling out a clip of Trump saying to “let ’em take out Los Angeles, let ’em take out San Diego” for being misleading.

Dale said the clip — shared by the Kamala Harris-linked “Headquarters” account on X the night before — incorrectly suggested Trump was cool with letting California’s two biggest cities get wiped out, as long as the Iran war was won.

“This isn’t a direct quote from Trump, and I very much don’t think it’s a correct paraphrase,” Dale posted. “Trump has repeatedly argued that the consequence of the war, like higher gas prices, are a small price to pay compared to what an unchecked Iran could allegedly do.”

His comment was added to the Headquarters post, which has racked up 9 million views so far. The post — based on a comment Trump made at a rally in Nebraska —  was captioned: “Trump on Iran: Let ’em take out Los Angeles and San Diego, it’s a small price to pay.”

Still, Dale blamed Trump for the incorrect framing. He said you have to be well-versed in “TrumpRallySpeak” to know the president wasn’t calling for LA and San Diego to get annihilated, even if it may have sounded like that.

Dale explained:

Last night, in especially rambling and incomplete fashion, he 1) claimed high prices are temporary and suggested they’re “artificial”; 2) contrasted that to the damage of Iran supposedly taking out a city; 3) and then, in especially confusing style, repeated his old point that “this,” as in the consequences of the war, is a small price to pay to avoid something like a a city being wiped out.

It’s Trump’s fault you kinda have to be steeped in TrumpRallySpeak to know what he was saying last night, and of course you can say it’s inappropriate regardless for the president to casually float the possibility of a city being wiped out, but the context exists and is important.

As for Trump’s full comment, you can read that below:

And again, remember, with the war, it’s just artificial. 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 ’em take out Los Angeles, let ’em 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.

Trump’s Nebraska rally comes as the president is hitting the road to try and win over voters before the 2026 midterms. Two nights earlier in Ohio, Trump declared Republicans would shock the world and “shove it up their a**” in November.

Watch above.

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