California Governor Gavin Newsom and other Democratic leaders in the state condemned President Donald Trump after he seemingly offered to let Iran bomb Los Angeles and San Diego as a "small price" for war.
Trump was speaking at a midterm campaign rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, on Monday to boost the campaign of GOP Senator Pete Ricketts when he argued that that high gas prices are a "small price to pay for keeping the world safe."
Then he suggested that an Iranian bombing campaign against Los Angeles and San Diego could even the scales, a remark that was met with cheers from those in attendance.
He said:
“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, they need it. 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... And don’t forget, we also took on a country named as Venezuela."
"They never talk about Venezuela. We are taking in hundreds of millions of barrels of oil. We are pouring oil into this country like nobody’s ever seen before.”
You can hear what Trump said in the video below.
Trump's remarks prompted a swift backlash from Newsom, who, in a video message, openly questioned why Congress is not reining in Trump's worst impulses:
"If you didn't think the November election mattered, just consider what just happened. The president of the United States, the same one who sent in the National Guard into Los Angeles, sent 700 active duty Marines to the second largest city in the United States of America, just invited Iran to 'take out' Los Angeles and San Diego, where, by the way, over 130,000 active duty personnel are stationed, our best and the brightest."
"This is not only madness, this is dangerous and it's deranged. And the question is self-evident: Where the hell is Congress? Where the hell are you [Speaker Mike Johnson]? [Secretary of State Marco Rubio], the great [Vice President JD Vance], where is your outrage?"
"Find a backbone. Do your d*mn job. In the absence of that, it's time for all of us do our job. And we'll do that, we'll stand up this November and we're going to put an end to the presidency of Donald Trump as we know it. We will take this country back."
You can hear what Newsom said in the video below.
Democratic leaders across California also issued a joint statement condemning Trump's statements:
"Upon taking office, the President swears to uphold the Constitution and protect us from our enemies. Yesterday, President Trump, while defending his unconstitutional war against Iran, appeared, incredibly, to invite Iran to destroy two American cities. His exact words were 'Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego.'"
"As members of the California Democratic Congressional Delegation, we call on President Trump to apologize to the over 16 million Americans who live in the Los Angeles and San Diego metropolitan areas and all Americans who expect more out of our President."
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who represented California in the Senate, also weighed in:
"Californians' lives are not expendable in Donald Trump's unhinged, reckless war in Iran. This is yet another callous comment from the tyrant in the White House who dragged the American people into a war that we do not want."
You can see her post below.
Others have also expressed their outrage.
The midterms are just weeks away, and it's clear Trump is desperate.
This is not normal.
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