A Republican candidate in San Diego has criticized Donald Trump after the US president suggested Iran could “take out” the city or Los Angeles. Trump has faced a chorus of condemnation from Democratic leaders in California after his comments at a rally in Nebraska on Monday night. Republicans have largely remained silent.
But Republican Jim Desmond, who is standing in a competitive San Diego based seat in the House of Representatives, pushed back. He joined a string of prominent Democrats who called out the comments. Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, said: “The nuclear annihilation of an American city is no laughing matter.” Desmond is set to face Marni Von Wilpert, a lawyer and member of San Diego’s city council, for the state’s 48th congressional district – which was redrawn in response to Proposition 50.
Desmond, also a navy veteran, said that he “served to protect Americans, not write off American cities as an acceptable price of war”. It’s a notable rebuke from a Republican in a closely watched contest that could help the party retain their razor-thin majority in the lower chamber. At his rally in Nebraska, Trump claimed that high prices due to the war with Iran are a “small price to pay for keeping the world safe – keeping our country safe”.
He went on: “They can take out a city. Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego.” The crowd clapped.
Within hours there was criticism from the California governor, Gavin Newsom, and others. On Tuesday the backlash continued. Terra Lawson-Remer, chair of the San Diego board of supervisors, said in a statement: “My grandfather was a Marine.
He died fighting for our country … When the Commander in Chief talks about San Diego being ‘taken out’ by other countries with whom we’re at war, he is not fit to lead. Trump is a traitor to our security, to our values, and to our Country.” Tom Cochran, head of the United States Conference of Mayors, argued that Trump had “crossed a line that no president should ever approach”. He added: “No American President should ever describe an attack on an American city by a hostile foreign power as acceptable.
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