October LIES: Networks Falsely Claim Trump Wants Iran to Blow Up LA, San Diego

On Tuesday, the “Big Three” elitist networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC each used their flagship morning newscasts to lie to their viewers with four weeks until Election Day by falsely claiming President Trump mused about allowing Iran to destroy Los Angeles and/or San Diego, California, as a “small price to pay” to defeat the Islamist regime.

In a move reminiscent of their 2024 push to make “garbage-gate” a thing, the spin wasn’t true, as Trump was referring to fuel prices as the “small price to pay” to crush Iran as opposed to allowing its ballistic missile and nuclear programs to grow to the point they could fire said warhead at an American city.

ABC’s Good Morning America unsurprisingly led the way. Co-host George Stephanopoulos leaned into his true calling as a longtime Democratic Party official: “Also on Iran, the President is sparking a fierce backlash after suggesting a campaign rally that Iran could take out Los Angeles or San Diego, American cities run by Democrats.”

Virulent Trump hater and senior political correspondent Rachel Scott front-loaded her story with the Trump comments, declaring he aimed to spend Monday “defending the war in Iran, but it’s those comments he made about the regime taking out two American cities that is prompting swift and fierce backlash this morning.”

“This morning, President Trump, facing growing criticism after suggesting Iran could “take out” Los Angeles or San Diego, two American cities run by Democrats,” she added.

It was only then that she played a portion of Trump’s comments: “They could take out a city, let ‘em take — let it — let ‘em out Los Angeles, let ‘em take out San Diego. That’s — this is a very small price to pay, and it’s going to be over with very soon.”

Scott eagerly promoted the pile-on from three California Democrats:

Those comments sparking fierce backlash from Democratic leaders in California. Governor Gavin Newsom calling President Trump deranged and dangerous. The mayor of San Diego, Todd Gloria, writing, “San Diego is not collateral damage. We are not expendable. And we are never a ‘small price to pay.’” And LA Mayor Karen Bass adding, “the role of a President is to protect the country, not to actively threaten it and encourage attacks on American lives.”

Here was what President Trump actually said, in context (click “expand”):

But I want — I want to see — 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. They could take out a city, let ‘em take — let it — let ‘em out Los Angeles, let ‘em 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, and they might keep going a little longer. You know, they always say they have a big threshold for pain. They need it. Let me tell you, they need it. But it’s going to end very soon, and it’ll end one way or the other. 

And your gas and your gasoline and all of the things — and don’t forget, we also took on a country known as Venezuela. They never talk about that. They never talk about Venezuela, and we’re taking in hundreds of millions of barrels of oil every week. We’re pouring oil. We’re pouring oil into this country like nobody’s ever seen before. We took it over China, left, Russia left. They all left because they wanted them to leave, but they all left. And we took over Venezuela. One hour and 48 minutes, it took us. Nobody killed, nobody killed. They don’t talk about that.

You know, we were in Vietnam for 21 years. Hundreds of thousands of people gone. We were in Afghanistan. Take a look at Afghanistan. We’re in Afghanistan for years. We’re all over everybody years, years, years, years, thousands, thousands, thousands people killed. So, we’ve been in Venezuela for one hour and 48 minutes, took over the largest oil supply outside of our own in the world. Think of that, and even our own. We were number three or four in the world. Now, we’re number one. We’re twice the size of Russia and Saudi Arabia combined without Venezuela, without — but they don’t talk about that. But it will end very quickly, and prices are going to come down very sharply. You might say, please, please, sir, it’s going down too fast. You watch — you watch what’s going to happen in a very short period of time.

Scott continued with her story, scoffing at Trump “calling rising fuel prices ‘artificial’” and bragging that he’s “under pressure to ease the pain,” so he signed an executive order “temporarily allow[ing] the use of so-called red dye diesel, a tax-free fuel typically reserved for heavy machinery like farm equipment and construction.”

Because Scott is rooting for her team to win in November, she insisted the executive order will fail: “But some analysts warn the effects will be limited and will not have much impact on prices due to a lack of global supply. So, diesel has skyrocketed about 77 percent this year due to this ongoing war with Iran now in its seventh month.”

Over at what we’ve been told is MAGA TV, CBS Mornings peddled not one, but two lies.

In addition to the Trump-Iran fable, CBS also insisted Kansas “Democrats...wouldn’t have a prayer” under normal circumstances statewide, but now do thanks to senatorial candidate and far-left preacher Adam Hamilton.

Fact-check: Kansas’s outgoing governor is a two-term Democrat, and the state Supreme Court has a 6-1 Democratic supermajority (appointed by outgoing Governor Laura Kelly and one of her predecessors, fellow Democrat Kathleen Sebelius).

Co-host Norah O’Donnell opened with both white lies:

Trump is campaigning hard for Republicans, but it is his comments in Nebraska suggesting a foreign adversary should take out two big, Democratic-run cities that are making national headlines. There’s also a lot of attention on Kansas. Remember, Kansas was a Republican stronghold that’s become a surprise Senate battleground.

Political correspondent Caitlin Huey-Burns showed either a poker face or political ignorance by chuckling that she “never expected to find myself in ruby-red Kansas a month before election day, but this really is a sleeper” because of the “dead-heat race.”

Huey-Burns continued with the Trump lie: “Meanwhile, President Trump is out on the campaign trail in red states and he’s drawing some criticism for comments he made last night just up in Nebraska...At a late-night rally in Nebraska, President Trump appeared to suggest Iran should take out two California cities[.]”

After the misleading Trump clip, she promoted Trump’s “sagging poll numbers” in Nebraska and Kansas, where her line about Democrats being non-competitive should have been called out (click “expand”):

TRUMP: Remember, with the words just “artificial,” it is a little bit high. It’s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe. They could take out a city, let ‘em take — let it — let ‘em out Los Angeles, let ‘em take out San Diego.

HUEY-BURNS: — drawing sharp criticism from California governor Gavin Newsom, who called Trump’s comments “deranged and dangerous.” Nebraska is the latest stop on the red state tour for the President, trying to shore up his base amid sagging poll numbers. Meanwhile, another reliably red state is shaping up to be the surprise of the cycle. Kansas voted for Trump three times and hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1932, so ordinarily, Democrats here wouldn’t have a prayer.

HAMILTON: It’s great to have a chance to preach today.

HUEY-BURNS: But now they think they do in the form of reverend Adam Hamilton, founding pastor of the largest United Methodist Church in the country, who is taking on Republican Senator Roger Marshall. [TO HAMILTON] What do you think is different this time around?

HAMILTON: Again, I think people are very frustrated with the decisions made in Washington that are harming people in Kansas.

HUEY-BURNS: Senator Marshall, an ob/gyn, won the seat handily in 2020, but now, he’s battling against rising gas diesel prices along with the President’s decision to increase beef imports to lower prices, which has worried ranchers in Kansas. Hamilton is making a play for disaffected Republicans like Daryl Potts. He and his wife Tammy, a Democrat, say they’re voting for the pastor.

DARRYL POTTS: I don’t know what is going to happen with the economy, and it’s chaos.

TAMMY POTTS: I mean, the price of beef is outrageous, and when I talk to the farmers, they keep telling me the high cost of diesel. I don’t think the farmers in Kansas are even being acknowledged.

HUEY-BURNS: Now, we did reach out to the Marshall campaign, and he hasn’t been available for interviews just yet.

After Huey-Burns gloated Democrats will “be bringing out their heavy heater — heavy hitter: Former President Obama is expected to go to Michigan later this month,” co-host, Democratic donor, and Obama family friend Gayle King replied to a slew of giggles on-set: “Caitlin, some people say he’s a heavy heater too, so we get it.”

Finally, NBC’s Today also shared the lie about Trump and the West Coast, but footnoted it amid a slew of general negativity for the GOP.

Co-hosts Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin argued Trump’s continued visits to red states are proof of “one of several close races Democrats are hoping to flip” as Trump “announc[ed] a major change for some controversial campaign ads...paid for with taxpayer money.”

Senior White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez made Democrats an afterthought, down to misleading viewers by insisting Nebraska senatorial candidate Dan Osborn is merely an “independent,” even though he uses ActBlue for fundraising and has been backed by national Democrats.

Before concluding with more obsessive coverage of Trump’s taxpayer-funded ads, Gutierrez did the left’s bidding by arguing Trump had “draw[n] backlash with these comments defending the war.”

Like the others, he only played the small snippet of Trump, starting with “it’s a small price to pay,” and ending with “take out San Diego.”

“Overnight, LA’s mayor calling the comments ‘irresponsible threats,’ while California’s governor describes them as ‘deranged and dangerous,’” he added.

Next, Guthrie spoke with lead data guru Steve Kornacki about negative polls for the GOP and Trump, but Kornacki emphasized that “the three times Trump has been on the ballot...he has overperformed the polls” and drew “energy out there that the polls haven’t picked up on.”

Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker had the third segment (with the fourth being a truncated Gutierrez report in hour two), which surprisingly included a mention of Democrats and, like Kornacki, a warning (click “expand”):

WELKER: President Trump being on the trail could actually cut both ways, because Democrats also see him as a motivator for their base, Craig.

MELVIN: Well, let’s talk about that for a second here, Kristen. Is that essentially the message for Democrats over the next four weeks? We’re not him, we’re not President Trump?

WELKER: To some extent. Look, Democrats say they’re sensing an immense amount of anxiety on the ground over the economy, they’re looking to tap into that frustration. Still, I have been talking to a number of Democratic strategists and candidates who say they can’t just rely on an anti-Trump message. That’s why you’re seeing the economy and more local issues like data centers become a real flashpoint. But those same strategists acknowledge voters may be sour on the President, but they’re not fully energized about Democrats, either. They’re lacking a cohesive message, and the party is having a series of ideological debates, Craig, so can they unify before November? That’s one of the key questions we’re watching.

To see the relevant transcripts from October 6, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).