---
title: "\"Let them take out\""
---

Democrats pounce on Trump's comments. ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­    ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­  

| View in browser October 6, 2026 Good Tuesday evening. In this edition: Democrats condemn Trump's "take out" Los Angeles and San Diego comments. Plus, Baltimore subs, Skydance deal and Alito. Los Angeles & San Diego President Trump provided fresh fodder for Democrats as he appeared to suggest that Iran could "take out" Los Angeles and San Diego during a rally in Nebraska on Monday night, leading the White House to go on the defensive and insist the comments were being misinterpreted. "I want to see a tremendous victory. You want to see a tremendous victory because it verifies all the things we did. And again, 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," he said while speaking about the Iran war. "They can take out a city. Let them take — let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego. That's — this is a very small price to pay, and it's going to be over with very soon. It's essentially almost over with." The "let them take out" line drew cheers at the rally in Grand Island, and the moment went viral on social media. Democrats pounced on the comments, portraying them as either an invitation for Iran to target the blue cities or as indifference to their fate. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) quickly condemned the remarks, calling the president "deranged and dangerous." "After sending the National Guard and Marines to occupy California, Donald Trump is now saying our foreign enemies should 'take out' Los Angeles and San Diego. He is deranged and dangerous," he wrote on social media Monday night. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) said the president was suggesting that a foreign government attack her city. "His statements against our city are dangerous and could potentially compromise our safety," she wrote on social media. "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 (D), the president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, also condemned the remarks, saying his city was not "collateral damage." "We are not expendable. And we are never a 'small price to pay,'" he said. "Keep our city out of your reckless war talk." Jim Desmond, a Trump-endorsed Republican running for a House seat in the San Diego area, said he "vehemently" disagreed with the president's comments. "The first responsibility of our commander in chief is to protect the American people and our homeland," he said in a statement. "As a Navy veteran, I served to protect Americans, not write off American cities as an acceptable price of war. Our job is to keep Americans safe, stand up to our enemies, and make sure a threat like that never becomes reality. No American city is expendable, and no American family should ever be treated as collateral damage." The White House said the remarks were being misinterpreted and referred to what could have happened if the U.S. had not gone to war with Iran. "The media freakout over President Trump's comments is not rooted in reality," White House Communications Director Steven Cheung wrote on X. "He was clearly stating U.S. cities would have been threatened if a nuclear Iran hadn't been stopped. America is safer because of the President. Iran has no nuclear, no navy, no air force, and no money." The White House's rapid response social media account also defended the remarks, responding to a Los Angeles Times headline. "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," the post read. After returning from an event in Baltimore, President Trump waved away a reporter who asked him to clarify what he meant by the remarks.   Watch the president's rally in Nebraska. Campaign 2026 coverage continues all night on C-SPAN, with debates in New Hampshire, Maryland and Maine. In other news… President Trump announced a multibillion-dollar investment to build a new shipyard in Baltimore to manufacture critical components for the Navy's Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarines. "Today, we're officially launching the construction of the largest new shipyard in the United States," he said in Sparrows Point. Anduril Industries, a defense technology company that makes AI-backed weapons, will invest $3.7 billion in the new shipyard, while the U.S. Navy has awarded the company a contract worth up to $2.9 billion to manufacture submarine components. The shipyard is expected to create more than 3,000 new permanent jobs and support an additional 11,000 jobs across the nation. The manufacturing facility will be located at the site of the former Bethlehem Steel plant, which closed permanently in 2012 after 125 years of steelmaking at the site. The president also said the U.S. government will take a 40% stake in the new project. Paramount officially closed its deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, creating a new Hollywood giant called Skydance under the leadership of tech scion David Ellison. "Today is a historic day, not just for Skydance but for our entire industry," Mr. Ellison said in a statement. "We couldn't be more excited to get to work." The $81 billion acquisition, valued at nearly $111 billion including debt, brings Paramount, Warner Bros., CBS, HBO, CNN, Paramount+ and HBO Max under the same corporate umbrella. Mr. Ellison's Skydance bought Paramount for $8 billion last year before setting its sights on Warner Bros., ultimately prevailing in a bidding war with Netflix. Warner initially struck a deal in December to sell its studio and streaming businesses to Netflix, but Paramount launched a hostile bid to acquire the entire company. Justice Samuel Alito said he plans to stay on the Supreme Court into next year, brushing aside speculation that he might announce his retirement during the lame-duck session to allow President Trump a fourth chance to nominate a justice with a Republican-controlled Senate. "I intend to stick around through this term," he said in an interview with Bloomberg News. "I made that decision many months ago." The 86-year-old acknowledged considering retirement in an interview with CBS News on Friday. "It's something that I think that somebody at my age has to think about every term," he told the network. "But I thought that I could still make a valuable contribution, which is why I became a justice and a judge in the first place." For your radar… Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) faces Democratic challenger Troy Jackson in a debate hosted by WGME CBS 13 on Tuesday night. Watch on C-SPAN at 9pm ET. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here C-SPAN is on YouTube. Subscribe today for live coverage, consequential moments, memorable exchanges and the political events everyone will be talking about. Full Schedule Copyright © 2026 C-SPAN, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in. C-SPAN, 400 North Capitol Street NW, Suite 155, Washington, DC 20001 Unsubscribe Manage preferences |
| --- |