Governor Newsom Goes on High Alert After Trump's Explosive 'Take Out' Remark Puts Los Angeles and San Diego in the Crosshairs

California Gov. Gavin Newsom directed the State Threat Assessment Center to actively monitor the situation after President Donald Trump referred to Los Angeles and San Diego during a campaign rally in Nebraska.

Newsom described Trump's remarks as 'dangerous if not treasonous' and said they were 'putting a target' on two of California's biggest cities and one of the nation's largest naval hubs.

The controversy followed remarks Trump made while discussing the Iran war and the economic impact of higher fuel prices. He said allowing a city to be 'taken out' would be a 'very small price to pay' for keeping the US and the world safe.

Trump's Explosive 'Take Out' Remark

Trump made the comments at a rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, on 5 October while discussing the economic fallout from the conflict and higher fuel prices.

'It's a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe,' Trump said before adding, 'They can take out a city. Let 'em take out Los Angeles, let 'em take out San Diego.'

He then repeated that it was a 'very small price to pay' and said the conflict would end 'very soon.' The crowd cheered as Trump made the remarks.

The wording immediately detonated a political firestorm in California, particularly because San Diego is a major US military centre with a huge concentration of Navy personnel and installations.

Newsom Calls Trump's Words 'Treasonous'

Newsom responded on 6 October by calling the president's remarks 'dangerous, if not treasonous.'

He said the comments were 'putting a target on two of our biggest cities and one of America's largest naval hubs' and ordered the State Threat Assessment Center to 'actively monitor the situation' in case foreign actors interpreted Trump's words as an invitation to target California.

Newsom's directive concerns monitoring and threat assessment. His statement did not identify any specific attack plot against Los Angeles or San Diego.

The State Threat Assessment Center is California's primary fusion centre. It serves as an information-sharing clearinghouse for strategic threat analysis and situational awareness and is operated by the California Highway Patrol, the Governor's Office of Emergency Services and the California Department of Justice.

White House Rejects Newsom's Interpretation

The White House rejected the suggestion that Trump was encouraging Iran to attack American cities.

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said the 'media freakout' over Trump's comments was 'not rooted in reality', arguing that the president was describing the threat US cities would have faced if Iran had acquired nuclear weapons.

'He was clearly stating US cities would have been threatened if a nuclear Iran hadn't been stopped,' Cheung said.

The White House's explanation contrasts with criticism from Newsom and other California officials, who focused on Trump's specific wording about allowing Los Angeles and San Diego to be 'taken out.' Trump's critics point to the words he actually used, while the White House says the remarks were about preventing Iran from gaining the ability to threaten the US.

California Leaders Fire Back

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also condemned the remarks, saying Trump's statements were dangerous and could potentially compromise the city's safety.

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria delivered an equally furious response, writing: 'San Diego is not collateral damage. We are not expendable. And we are never a "small price to pay".'

The backlash was not confined to Democrats.

Jim Desmond, a Republican candidate for Congress in the San Diego area and a former Navy serviceman, said he 'vehemently' disagreed with Trump.

'As a Navy veteran, I served to protect Americans, not write off American cities as an acceptable price of war,' Desmond said, adding that no American city or family should be treated as expendable.

Why San Diego Matters

San Diego gives the controversy an especially sharp national-security edge.

The region is home to a vast military presence, including Naval Base San Diego, and thousands of active-duty service members and their families. That makes Trump's casual reference to the city particularly jarring for a community deeply tied to America's military.

Los Angeles, meanwhile, is the country's second-largest city and the largest city in California, making the two locations among the most prominent American population centres mentioned in the president's remarks.

The Battle Over Trump's Meaning

Newsom's response has turned an extraordinary rally comment into a wider fight over presidential rhetoric and national security.

The White House maintains that Trump was describing the danger a nuclear-armed Iran could pose and arguing that the costs of confronting Tehran were worth bearing.

Newsom's message is starkly different, the president's own words were serious enough for California's threat-assessment machinery to start watching for possible consequences.

For now, that monitoring remains the clearest action the state has taken.

The controversy now centres on how Trump's remarks should be understood: whether he was warning about a hypothetical threat from a nuclear-armed Iran, as the White House says, or whether his wording suggested that the destruction of American cities could be an acceptable cost of the conflict.