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Media Falsely Claims Trump Suggested Iran Attack Los Angeles and San Diego

Media Falsely Claims Trump Suggested Iran Attack Los Angeles and San Diego

“These headlines are a disgrace and another example of why nobody trusts the media.”
Posted by Saturday, October 10, 2026 at 12:00pm
https://x.com/TheCharlesDowns/status/2107434760276435354

If it’s a day ending in “Y,” the mainstream media are working hard to take things President Donald Trump said out of context. That was certainly the case earlier this week when the president was in Nebraska to stump for Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) in his senatorial campaign.

At one point during his Monday speech in the city of Grand Island, Trump referenced Operation Epic Fury in the context of the higher prices we’re having to pay at the pump, suggesting they were a small, temporary price to pay for Iran not having a nuke and the ability to take out cities like San Diego and Los Angeles.

Here’s how it came out:

“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. They can 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.”

Here’s how leftist influencers and media outlets falsely framed what he said:

As the L.A. Times article indicated, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) took the media’s warped translation of Trump’s remarks at face value:

He went nuts,  stating that he was “directing the State Threat Assessment Center to actively monitor the situation in the event that foreign actors interpret the President’s remarks as an invitation to target California.”  Later, he would suggest that the 25th Amendment be invoked against Trump:

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) led the charge, telling The Hill on Tuesday that Trump is “mentally ill.”

“TIME FOR THE 25TH!” the governor said in a statement.

Amazingly, amid the media/Democrat frenzy over their (deliberately) false interpretation of what Trump said, two prominent anti-Trump media figures stepped up to correct the record, sprinkling in a bit of TDS for good measure.

First up was CNN “fact checker” Daniel Dale:

This isn’t a direct quote from Trump, and I very much don’t think it’s a correct paraphrase. Trump has repeatedly argued that the consequences of the war, like higher gas prices, are a small price to pay compared to what an unchecked Iran could allegedly do. Last night, in especially rambling and incomplete fashion, he 1) claimed high prices are temporary and suggested they’re “artificial”; 2) contrasted that to the damage of Iran supposedly taking out a city; 3) and then, in especially confusing style, repeated his old point that “this,” as in the consequences of the war, is a small price to pay to avoid something like a a city being wiped out.

It’s Trump’s fault you kinda have to be steeped in TrumpRallySpeak to know what he was saying last night, and of course you can say it’s inappropriate regardless for the president to casually float the possibility of a city being wiped out, but the context exists and is important.

Then there was their senior reporter, Aaron Blake:

The Guardian ended up being one of the few media outlets that issued a correction, but well after the fact:

But the corrections and clarifications didn’t stop CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, who on Tuesday asked Trump to clarify what he meant, as if her two colleagues hadn’t already cleared that up:

Though Trump didn’t answer her (it wasn’t clear if he’d even heard her), he let the press and Democrat critics know the next day that he wasn’t backing down from what he said, repeating his comments during a speech given in Texas during a Wednesday rally for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Senate campaign:

“You want to see trauma? You 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. You want to see a horror show? Let them hit San Diego. Let them hit Los Angeles,” Trump said, speaking at a campaign rally in San Antonio.

“You want to see some bad things happen? You want to see a country in free fall? We’re not going to let that happen,” he continued.

Watch:

Shorter Trump: I said what I said.

– Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via X. –

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Comments

2smartforlibs | October 10, 2026 at 12:08 pm

The propaganda machine can’t help themselves. If Trump says anything they have to twist it and clip it so it’s taken completely out of context and they wonder why 8 of 10 don’t trust them.

    BierceAmbrose in reply to 2smartforlibs. | October 10, 2026 at 1:56 pm

    Oh, it’s worse than that.

    The misrepresentation and slimeing — “very fine people” anyone? — makes the speaker hyper-parse what they’re saying. Shuts down the points, the presentation, and certainly any juicy rhetoric… which is the point. Make the opposition seem awkward and stiff.

irishgladiator63 | October 10, 2026 at 12:44 pm

Hopefully they take Chicago, Detroit, and NYC too.

Concise | October 10, 2026 at 3:04 pm

Media bias is beyond palpable, it’s literally painful. They lost their minds in 2016 and it’s only gotten worse. But, here’s the thing, are they really this collectively stupid too? Apparently.

starlightnite50yrsago | October 10, 2026 at 4:48 pm

MSM will do any thing to destroy America. They are the left’s mouth piece. The propaganda arm of the Democratic Party.

DaveGinOly | October 10, 2026 at 7:13 pm

Completely irrational when one considers Trump is actively trying to prevent Iran from developing an atomic weapon. If he wanted Iran to attack L.A. and San Diego, he’d be encouraging Iran’s development of an atomic weapon. In the context of the Iran war, the media’s spin is illogical. But, hey, expecting logic and rational thought from the media and Dem politicians is too much, right?

Jonathan Cohen | October 10, 2026 at 8:12 pm

The National Review opinion writer Jim Geraghty essentially took the Democrats talking point on Trump’s speech. Some of the writers at NR have severe cases of TDS. They ridicule people who accuse them of it but when you take every word Trump says and every action he takes as somehow terrible and stemming from defects in Trump’s character that is classic TDS.

henrybowman | October 10, 2026 at 8:51 pm

It’s a small price to pay, but good people on both sides should be willing to pay it.

Milhouse | October 11, 2026 at 11:02 am

There’s a fundamental difference between the way they quote him: “it’s a small price to pay”, and what he actually said, which was “this is a small price to pay”. “This is clearly a reference to the topic he’s on, which is gas prices.

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