{"id":226877,"date":"2026-10-08T10:33:39","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T10:33:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trump-says-we-protect-our-cities-after-saying-iran-could-take-out-los-angeles-or-san-diego-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T10:33:39","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T10:33:39","slug":"trump-says-we-protect-our-cities-after-saying-iran-could-take-out-los-angeles-or-san-diego-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trump-says-we-protect-our-cities-after-saying-iran-could-take-out-los-angeles-or-san-diego-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump says \u2018we protect our cities\u2019 after saying Iran could \u2018take out\u2019 Los Angeles or San Diego – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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After having faced fierce backlash, President Donald Trump<\/a> on Wednesday sought to clean up incendiary comments he made earlier this week, when he said Iran could \u201ctake out\u201d Los Angeles or San Diego.
Trump\u2019s original remarks<\/a>, made at a campaign rally in Nebraska, seemed to refer to what would happen if Iran had a nuclear weapon.
\u201cThey can take out a city. Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego,\u201d Trump said Monday to cheers from the crowd.
He recast those remarks Wednesday night at a rally in San Antonio as he tried to explain the Iran war, saying he had \u201cno choice\u201d if the U.S. were to keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
\u201cYou want to see problems? And I said it the other day: Let them hit a missile into San Diego or Los Angeles on the way. Let them hit. You want to see a horror show? You want to see problems?\u201d
\u201cLet them hit San Diego. Let them hit Los Angeles if you want to see some bad things happen. You want to see a country that would be in free fall?\u201d
This time, however, he added: \u201cWe\u2019re not going to let that happen. We protect our cities. We protect our country. We\u2019re not letting that happen.\u201d
Trump\u2019s initial remarks sparked backlash, particularly from California Democrats. Gov. Gavin Newsom accused Trump <\/a>of prodding foreign enemies to take out U.S. cities. \u201cHe is deranged and dangerous,\u201d Newsom wrote on social media.
\u201cTo do that makes us look ridiculous on the world stage, but it also gives a green light to Iran, the nation that he chose to attack, the green light to attack our cities,\u201d Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told NBC News after Wednesday\u2019s rally.
Bass said she may call on Congress to investigate Trump\u2019s comments.
Trump\u2019s comments Wednesday came in a winding speech at a boisterous rally that stretched for about an hour and 45 minutes, with numerous interruptions from protesters. At one point, a protester who had been heckling Trump was grabbed<\/a> by a person in the audience in an incident captured on video. A man in the crowd, wearing what looked to be a red \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d hat, grabbed the protester by the hair. Others in the crowd tried to free the protester.
The evening was meant to boost Texas Republicans, including Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is running for the Senate in a pitched battle against Democrat James Talarico. In a reflection of Trump\u2019s low favorability ratings, even in the red state of Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott \u2014 a staunch Trump ally \u2014 said he could not attend because of a scheduling conflict.
Capping the night, Trump announced that he would award former Major League Baseball pitcher and seven-time Cy Young Award winner Rogers Clemens the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
\u201cWe\u2019re giving him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and along with the Congressional Medal of Honor, it\u2019s the highest award bestowed upon anyone,\u201d Trump said, adding he would help him get into the Baseball Hall of Fame someday. \u201cHe deserves it.\u201d
Clemens, a Texan, was accused of using performance-enhancing drugs<\/a> late in his baseball career. He maintains he has never used PEDs.
On Wednesday night, Clemens took the stage at Trump\u2019s invitation, saying he was \u201cstunned.\u201d
\u201cThis supersedes anything that obviously I\u2019ve done in my playing career,\u201d Clemens said. \u201cTo get it from this man, this president, there wouldn\u2019t be another president I\u2019d want to get it from.\u201d
Natasha Korecki is a senior national political reporter for NBC News.
Kyla Guilfoil is a breaking news reporter on the politics team for NBC News Digital.
Bill Feather is an assignment editor for NBC Los Angeles who covers general assignment and daily breaking news, primarily in Southern California.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For YouSettings news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeAfter having faced fierce backlash, President Donald Trump on Wednesday sought to clean up incendiary comments he made earlier this week, when he said Iran could \u201ctake out\u201d Los Angeles or San Diego.Trump\u2019s original remarks, made at a campaign rally in Nebraska, seemed to refer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":226878,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-226877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}