U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Tuesday accused President Donald Trump of treating the potential destruction of American cities as an acceptable cost of the Iran war, calling the president “unhinged” in a post on X. The post followed Trump’s remarks at a Nebraska political rally, where he said Iran could “take out” Los Angeles and San Diego. Those remarks set off a wave of condemnation from California officials and a sharp defense from the White House. Sanders, a longtime opponent of the war, has called it illegal and unconstitutional since the first strikes in February.
Sanders’ Full Post
Sanders published the post at 11:43 a.m. on Oct. 6, 2026. It reads in full:
“I can’t believe we have to say this, but the annihilation of two major American cities — more than 5 million people — is not a “small price to pay” for Trump’s illegal war.
Neither are the 19 American troops and 3,000+ Iranians who lost their lives.
Our president is unhinged.”
The post makes three separate claims. It puts the combined population of the two cities at more than 5 million people. It says Trump’s own phrase, “small price to pay,” cannot cover that loss. And it says the war has already killed 19 American troops and more than 3,000 Iranians.
What Trump Said in Nebraska
Trump spoke Monday night at a Republican political rally in Nebraska. He sought to justify the Iran war as necessary for “keeping the world safe,” then suggested there could be strikes on the United States itself, including on Democratic-led California cities. “They could take out a city,” he said. “Let them take — Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego.”
A longer version of the remark includes the phrase Sanders quoted. “It’s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe,” Trump said. “They can take out a city. Let them take out Los Angeles, let them take out San Diego.” Sections of the crowd cheered as he named the two cities. It was not immediately clear what Trump meant, and he did not say how the war would end, though he said it was “going to end very soon.”
Reaction From California
California Gov. Gavin Newsom was among the first to respond. “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 wrote on social media. He called the president “deranged and dangerous.”
On Tuesday morning Newsom went further, calling the remarks “dangerous – if not treasonous.” He said they had prompted him to direct California’s State Threat Assessment Center to “monitor the situation in the event that foreign actors interpret the remarks as an invitation” to target the state. The center is the state agency responsible for detecting and preventing security threats.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria wrote that his city was not “collateral damage” and not “expendable.” “Keep our city out of your reckless war talk,” he added. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the comments were “dangerous” and could “potentially compromise” the city’s safety. “The role of a president is to protect the country, not to actively threaten it and encourage attacks on American lives,” she said.
The criticism also reached Trump’s own endorsed candidates. Jim Desmond, a San Diego County supervisor running for California’s 48th congressional district with Trump’s endorsement, said he “vehemently” disagreed with the president. “No American city is expendable, and no American family should ever be treated as collateral damage,” he wrote. His Democratic opponent, San Diego City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert, called it “indefensible” that Desmond “continues to support Trump’s war” while being backed by a president “who jokes about the 1.4 million people in San Diego being ‘taken out’ by a foreign adversary.”
The White House Response
The White House rejected the criticism. Communications Director Stephen Cheung described the “media freakout” as “not rooted in reality.” “He was clearly stating US cities would have been threatened if a nuclear Iran hadn’t been stopped,” Cheung wrote on X. “America is safer because of the President. Iran has no nuclear, no navy, no air force, and no money.”
A separate post from the official White House rapid response account called journalists who reported on the comments “buffoons.” It also said the president “was saying the US 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.” Trump himself had not responded to the California officials as of Tuesday.
Why the Two Cities Matter
Both cities host significant military infrastructure. San Diego, the eighth-largest city in the United States, is home to Naval Base San Diego, the home port of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. It also hosts Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, the main West Coast training center for Navy SEALs, and sits near Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, where about 70,000 service members and civilians work. Los Angeles, the second most populous U.S. city, houses the headquarters of the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command and Los Angeles Air Force Base.
Sanders’ Record on the Iran War
Sanders’ post continues a position he set out on the day the war began. On Feb. 28, after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran, he said President Trump “has begun an illegal, premeditated and unconstitutional war.” “The U.S. Constitution is clear. It is the Congress that declares war, not a president acting unilaterally,” Sanders said, adding that the Senate “must reconvene immediately and vote on a pending War Powers Resolution, which I will strongly support.”
In the same statement, Sanders compared the conflict to earlier wars. “The American people were lied to about Vietnam. The American people were lied to about Iraq. The American people are being lied to again today — and once again, it is ordinary people who will pay the price,” he said. He closed with the line: “We must not allow Trump to force us into another senseless war. No war with Iran.”
His opposition to war with Iran predates the current conflict. In June 2025, amid Israel’s strikes on Iran, he said the United States “must not be dragged into another of Netanyahu’s wars — not militarily or financially,” and that without explicit congressional authorization “any such involvement would be illegal.” His office also lists a No War Against Iran Act, which would bar federal funds for military force against Iran without specific congressional authorization. In a 2019 address, he said “a war with Iran would be an absolute disaster” and “many times worse than the Iraq war.”
Ceasefire Talks and a Long-Running Feud
The rally remarks come as the war shows no clear end. Last week, Trump turned down Iran’s latest cease-fire proposal, which would have reopened the Strait of Hormuz and restarted talks on the country’s nuclear program in exchange for U.S. concessions. Preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon was among the key justifications Trump gave for launching the war this year.
The exchange also adds to the long-running conflict between Trump and Newsom, who may run for president in 2028. Last year, Trump called Newsom incompetent over his response to Los Angeles anti-immigration enforcement protests that turned violent, and Newsom accused Trump of a “brazen abuse of power” after military personnel were deployed to secure federal buildings. Earlier this year, Trump mocked Newsom’s dyslexia, saying presidents should not have learning disabilities, which drew criticism from dyslexia charities.