On Monday night, President Donald Trump delivered a rambling riff about war, gas prices, and victory. Some of what he said leaves room for interpretation. Six words about Los Angeles followed by another six about San Diego do not.
“Let them take out Los Angeles, let them take out San Diego,” Trump said to a cheering Nebraska crowd of supporters.
Those words should put an end to any argument supporting a generous reading of the president’s damning remarks. Here they are in context:
“And again, remember, with the war, it’s just artificial,” he said, appearing to talk about the high price of gas. “It’s a little bit high.”
“It’s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe. They can take out a city,” he continued.
“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, which had been somewhat quiet as Trump was speaking, erupted into cheers when he mentioned Los Angeles and San Diego.
USA Today wrote, “California leaders condemn President Trump after he suggested Los Angeles and San Diego could be ‘a small price to pay’ amid conflict with Iran.”
ABC News reported that Trump “suggested that Iran could ‘take out’ Los Angeles and San Diego if it were allowed to develop a nuclear weapon, drawing condemnation from California leaders, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, who called the remarks ‘deranged and dangerous.’”
“Los Angeles is the second-most populous city in the United States, while San Diego is home to several major American military installations, including the Naval Base San Diego -- principal homeport of the U.S. Pacific Fleet,” ABC noted.
The Los Angeles Times headline read, “Trump suggests letting Iran ‘take out’ Los Angeles and San Diego at campaign rally.”
The official White House Rapid Response social media account blasted the LA Times, tweeting: “No, he didn’t, you buffoons. He was saying the U.S. is fighting to STOP Iran from having the ability to take out LA and San Diego with a nuclear weapon — which they would if they had the chance.”
Zeteo News media columnist Justin Baragona commented, “We're gonna get a news cycle parsing through Trump's ‘let 'em take out Los Angeles’ comments, with media folks straining to give the most charitable interpretation of what he actually meant.”
“But one thing's clear,” he added, “that Nebraska crowd cheered on the prospect of LA getting nuked.”
Jim Acosta, the former CNN chief White House correspondent, responded to Trump’s remarks, writing: “The crowd starts to applaud as Trump fantasizes about LA and San Diego being wiped out by a nuclear attack. WTF. This is not normal.”
“Trump and his allies are going to try desperately to clean up his completely insane comments last night about Los Angeles and San Diego being blown up,” Acosta continued. “Don’t listen to them. They’ve been trying to sanitize and normalize this dangerous rhetoric for a decade now.”
What’s not up for interpretation is that the president of the United States said, “let them.” To read Trump’s words as a warning, you have to add words he never said. What he said was:
“Let them take out Los Angeles, let them take out San Diego.”
That alone is inexcusable and should leave every American furious.
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