Newsom orders threat monitoring after Trump names California cities

California Governor Gavin Newsom directed state officials to monitor potential threats after President Donald Trump suggested at a Nebraska rally that Iran could “take out” Los Angeles and San Diego. Democrats and some Republicans condemned the remarks, while the White House said Trump’s words were being taken out of context.

Speaking Monday night in Grand Island, Trump described high prices linked to the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran as “a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe.” He continued: “They can take out a city. Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay, and it’s going to be over with very soon.” The crowd applauded the line, The Guardian reported.

On Tuesday, Newsom directed California’s emergency preparedness center to “actively monitor” possible threats, according to The Guardian. He said the state’s threat-assessment center would be on heightened alert “in the event that foreign actors interpret the President’s remarks as an invitation to target California.”

“This is not only madness. This is dangerous,” Newsom said in a video posted on X, calling for Congress to rein in Trump’s behavior. In a separate post, he called the remarks “dangerous – if not treasonous” and said they put a target on two major cities and a naval hub.

Republican House candidate Jim Desmond, who is running for a San Diego-area seat, rejected Trump’s comments. “America must stand up to Iran and defend our interests, but the first responsibility of our Commander in Chief is to protect the American people and our homeland,” he wrote on X, according to Al Jazeera. “No American city is expendable, and no American family should ever be treated as collateral damage.”

Representative Kevin Kiley, an independent who caucuses with Republicans and is seeking re-election in northern California, called the comments “unhelpful,” Al Jazeera reported. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said, “The nuclear annihilation of an American city is no laughing matter,” according to The Guardian.

Other Republicans defended Trump. Darrell Issa, a congressman from Southern California, did not directly address the remarks when asked by The Guardian but said Trump had acted to eliminate a nuclear threat and protect the country. Paula Whitsell, chair of the San Diego County Republican Party, said his words had been taken “completely out of context.” She said Trump had named the cities as examples of what could happen if the United States did not confront Iran, “not as an invitation for them to be attacked.”

White House communications director Steven Cheung called the criticism a “media freakout” that was “not rooted in reality.” Trump, he wrote on X, was saying U.S. cities would have been threatened “if a nuclear Iran hadn’t been stopped.” Cheung also asserted that Iran has “no nuclear, no navy, no air force, and no money.”

The exchange comes ahead of November’s midterm elections, when all 435 House seats and a third of the Senate are on the ballot. Desmond’s race is among the contests that could help determine whether Republicans retain control of the House.