What, exactly, did Trump say about Iran taking Out Los Angeles?

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. — The White House went on the defensive Tuesday over confusing comments President Donald Trump made one night earlier about the war with Iran and high gas prices, with the administration’s top communications official insisting that Trump’s remarks were taken out of context.

While speaking to a packed rally in Grand Island, Neb., Trump said exactly this:

“I want to see a tremendous victory. You want to see a tremendous victory because it verifies all the things we did. 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 can take out a city. Let them take, let them take out Los Angeles; let them take out San Diego. That’s — this is a very small price to pay, and it’s going to 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, they need it. But it’s going to end very soon. And it’ll end one way or the other. And your gas and your gasoline and all of the things.

“And don’t forget, we also took on a country known as Venezuela. They never talk about that. They never talk about Venezuela. And we’re taking in hundreds of millions of barrels of oil every week. We’re pouring oil. We’re pouring oil into this country like nobody’s ever seen before.”

The audience cheered when he said “let them take out Los Angeles; let them take out San Diego,” and the moment instantly went viral. An uproar ensued among critics — both Democrats and Republicans — who interpreted Trump’s comments as either inviting Iran to “take out” cities in California or as his seeing those cities as collateral damage.

On Tuesday morning, the White House’s communications director, Steven Cheung, responded, “The media freakout over President Trump’s comments is not rooted in reality. He was clearly stating U.S. cities would have been threatened if a nuclear Iran hadn’t been stopped. America is safer because of the president. Iran has no nuclear, no navy, no air force, and no money.”

Trump has repeatedly referred to elevated gasoline prices as a small price to pay for the war in Iran.

Gov. Gavin Newsom of California jumped on the president’s remarks. “After sending the National Guard and Marines to occupy California,” Newsom wrote online, “Donald Trump is now saying our foreign enemies should ‘take out’ Los Angeles and San Diego.”

Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles, responded by saying she was “just shocked” at the president’s comments. “It would really be helpful to our city if you would apologize and say, of course, you would never stand for a foreign power attacking a U.S. city,” said the mayor, a Democrat whom the president frequently attacks. “That is the appropriate response the day after from the president of the United States.”

Jim Desmond, a Trump-endorsed Republican seeking an open House seat in California, wrote online that he “vehemently” disagreed with Trump’s comments.

“The first responsibility of our commander in chief is to protect the American people and our homeland,” he wrote. “As a Navy veteran, I served to protect Americans, not write off American cities as an acceptable price of war. Our job is to keep Americans safe, stand up to our enemies, and make sure a threat like that never becomes reality. No American city is expendable, and no American family should ever be treated as collateral damage.”

Trump has a rambling style of off-the-cuff speaking, especially while holding forth at rallies, and this is far from the first time something like this has happened.

In 2024, much of the political and media worlds were consumed with a dayslong debate about the intent behind remarks he made describing a violent hypothetical involving Liz Cheney. Trump has been defensive about his disjointed way of public speaking, christening it “the weave,” and claiming that he has “friends” who are “English professors” who have told him it is “the most brilliant thing I’ve ever seen.”

Other times, he has ignited public uproar with the words he has purposefully chosen to discuss violence. Last year, for example, he was condemned even by Republicans for what he said about Hollywood director Rob Reiner after Reiner and his wife had been stabbed to death.

The president also has a history of using callous language to describe hypothetical mass annihilation. In April, he threatened to wipe out Iran in a post online. “A whole civilization will die tonight,” he wrote, “never to be brought back again.”

But the Trump administration says that this time, the president has simply been misunderstood.

“MY RALLIES ARE SAVING THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, AGAIN!!!” Trump wrote online Tuesday morning.

This article originally appeared in the New York Times.