Trump Doubles Down on 'Let Them Hit Los Angeles' Remark, Warns US Would Be in 'Free Fall' After Iran War

Donald Trump has repeated remarks appearing to suggest that Iran could strike Los Angeles and San Diego, two days after his original comments prompted California Governor Gavin Newsom to call for the 25th Amendment to be invoked against him.

Speaking at a campaign rally at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Texas, on Wednesday, 7 October 2026, the president returned to the line and framed it as a warning of what a nuclear-armed Iran could do.

He spoke of a country that would be in 'free fall' if such an attack were allowed to happen. Protesters interrupted the speech several times.

'Let Them Hit San Diego'

Trump was in Texas to campaign for Ken Paxton, the Republican Senate candidate, when he revisited the comments. 'I said it the other day. Let them hit a missile into San Diego or Los Angeles on the way,' he said, ABC7 Los Angeles reported.

'Let them hit San Diego. Let them hit Los Angeles if you want to see some bad things happen,' he continued. 'We protect our cities. We protect our country.'

He then described the consequences in starker terms. 'You want to see trauma? You want to see problems?' he asked the crowd, before adding: 'You want to see a horror show?'

In a clip shared online from the rally, Trump spoke of 'a country that would be in free fall' and insisted: 'We're not going to let that happen.'

The Grand Island Remark

The original comment came on Monday, 5 October at a rally at the Pinnacle Bank Expo Center in Grand Island, Nebraska, where Trump was campaigning for Senator Pete Ricketts and Governor Jim Pillen, ABC News reported.

Responding to voter complaints about rising fuel prices caused by the war, Trump said: 'It's a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe.' He went on: 'They can take out a city. Let them take, let it, let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego,' according to CBS Los Angeles. Members of the crowd appeared to cheer.

It was not immediately clear what Trump meant. The White House disputed the interpretation that he was inviting an attack, saying he was warning that American cities would have been threatened if Iran had been allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon.

'The media freakout over President Trump's comments is not rooted in reality,' White House communications director Steven Cheung said. 'America is safer because of the President.'

California Leaders Respond

The remark drew a furious response in California. Governor Gavin Newsom called it 'deranged and dangerous' and directed the State Threat Assessment Center to watch for foreign actors who might treat it as an invitation to target the state.

Newsom then went further. 'Donald Trump is mentally ill. TIME FOR THE 25TH!' he wrote, referring to the constitutional mechanism under which the vice-president and a majority of the Cabinet can declare that a president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office. He also warned that the comment put more than 130,000 active-duty military personnel stationed in San Diego at risk.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said: 'The role of a president is to protect the country, not to actively threaten it and encourage attacks on American lives.' San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria wrote that his city 'is not collateral damage' and told Trump to 'keep our city out of your reckless war talk'.

More than 40 California Democrats in Congress demanded an apology. Criticism also came from within Trump's own party. Jim Desmond, a Republican candidate for California's 48th Congressional District, said: 'No American city is expendable.'

Kevin Kiley, who has left the Republican Party and is running as an independent, said there was 'no evidence' that Iran could strike a California city, but called the rhetoric 'unhelpful'. Xavier Becerra, a Democratic candidate for governor, said residents' lives were not 'a punchline'.

Bass told reporters she was shocked by the comment, describing it as 'inviting a country that we are at war with to attack an American city'.

A War Now in Its Eighth Month

The row comes as the conflict with Iran drags on. The United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran on 28 February, beginning a conflict that is now in its eighth month. The fighting has disrupted global energy supplies and contributed to higher fuel prices ahead of the 3 November midterm elections.

In Nebraska, Trump said the conflict could continue for a few more weeks, until after the midterms, while calling for 'total victory'.

Trump's message at both rallies was that voters should accept higher fuel costs as the price of preventing a nuclear-armed Iran. Critics heard something else: a president describing the destruction of American cities in front of cheering supporters.

Trump made no attempt in Texas to withdraw the remark, instead recasting it as a warning about Iran.

In California, where officials have spent the week responding to the first remark, the second prompted further criticism.