Steve Hilton wants to be governor of California. On Monday night, the president who endorsed him stood on a stage in Nebraska and named Los Angeles and San Diego in a line about Iran. When the San Francisco Chronicle asked Hilton's campaign what he thought, it got nothing back.

What Trump said

On October 5, 2026, at a rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, Trump was talking about gas prices and the war he started with Iran. Here is what he said, as the Chronicle reported it:

"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. That's — this is a very small price to pay."

The crowd cheered when he named the two cities.

The White House says he was misunderstood. Spokesman Steven Cheung wrote that Trump "was clearly stating U.S. cities would have been threatened if a nuclear Iran hadn't been stopped." FactCheck.org looked at the full remarks and agreed he didn't appear to be "advocating" an attack. Its reading: he meant the war would stop Iran from threatening U.S. cities, "and higher gas prices are a small sacrifice to make."

Keep that second half in mind. We'll come back to it.

California reacted. Hilton didn't.

The reaction from California came fast. Governor Gavin Newsom called the remarks "dangerous — if not treasonous" and told the State Threat Assessment Center to watch for foreign actors who might take them as an invitation. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told the president to "keep LA out of your damn mouth." The bipartisan U.S. Conference of Mayors said Trump had "crossed a line that no president should ever approach."

Even a Republican broke with him. Jim Desmond, who is running for Congress in a district that covers part of San Diego County, wrote: "As a Navy veteran, I served to protect Americans, not write off American cities as an acceptable price of war." RealClearPolitics reported he had broken with Trump by Tuesday morning.

And Steve Hilton? Per the Chronicle:

A spokesperson for Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton, who was endorsed by Trump, did not respond to requests for comment on the president's remarks.

This is the man asking to lead the state that has San Diego in it — home to what Newsom called "one of America's largest naval hubs." It took a Republican House candidate one sentence to say American cities aren't an "acceptable price of war." Hilton couldn't find one.

The timing matters, too. The remarks landed, RealClearPolitics noted, "just as most California voters began receiving their mail-in ballots."

Why he won't say it

Hilton isn't some candidate Trump happens to like. In April, Trump gave him his "COMPLETE & TOTAL ENDORSEMENT." Hilton's pitch to Californians who dislike Trump has been that his closeness to Trump is a plus. We wrote about that ad: "I get it: maybe you hate Trump," it says, and in the same interview Hilton called the endorsement "a positive thing" because California would get "a governor with a good relationship with the president."

A good relationship works both ways. If being close to Trump is what Hilton is selling, then saying nothing when Trump names California cities in a riff about Iran is part of the deal.

The gas-price problem

Now back to that second half of Trump's sentence.

Trump wasn't just talking about Iran. He was explaining away high gas prices. "With the war," he said, prices are "a little bit high," and that is "a small price to pay." In Trump's own telling, the war is why gas costs more, and he thinks it's worth it.

Steve Hilton has spent this whole campaign saying the opposite. In March, when Newsom blamed the war for rising prices, Hilton told Fox News:

"It's not the war in Iran, because in the rest of the country, they don't have $5.49, they have $3 gas."

He added: "It's entirely because of Gavin Newsom's insane climate dogma that we have the highest gas taxes in the country."

"Entirely" is a big word, and the numbers since March don't back it up. Hilton's case was that the rest of the country had cheap gas; the national average then was $3.57, Fox reported. On October 1, CapRadio reported that California gas averaged $6.40 a gallon, according to AAA — nearly $2 above the national average. Do the subtraction and the rest of the country is well above the $3.57 it paid in March. Gas went up everywhere, not just in Newsom's state. The California Energy Commission says disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz pushed up world oil prices. And a UC Berkeley energy expert told CapRadio:

"There's no way that prices can be brought below $3 dollars in California without addressing the Iran War."

Hilton's plan promises Californians $3 gas, CapRadio reported. The expert says that can't happen without dealing with the war. And the president who endorsed Hilton just told a rally that the war's gas prices are "a small price to pay."

So Hilton is stuck. If he agrees with Trump that the war raised prices, his whole gas message falls apart. If he says the war is worth what it costs, he's telling drivers paying $6.40 a gallon to accept it. Saying nothing is the only way to avoid both.

Trump tried to clean it up, and made the same argument again

Two days later, Trump tried to walk it back, and repeated it doing so. At a rally in San Antonio on Wednesday night, October 7, the Los Angeles Times reported, he told the crowd:

"You want to see a horror show? You want to see problems? Let them hit San Diego, let them hit Los Angeles."

Then he added, "We are not going to let that happen. We protect our cities. We protect our country." The Times wrote that his return to the subject "appeared aimed at tamping down the fallout" after two days in which the White House had been on the defensive.

But a walk-back that opens with "Let them hit San Diego" isn't much of one. Two days after his first riff, the president of the United States was back on a rally stage describing Iran hitting two American cities, and the crowd cheered again. California was still taking the first one seriously: the day before, Governor Newsom had opened the state's emergency operations center to assess potential threats. A commander in chief whose cities are a possible target doesn't keep bringing them up as a rally line.

But the cleanup came wrapped in the same argument. Forbes reported that Trump brought up the two cities while talking about oil prices, arguing that paying a "little more" for oil was worth it to keep Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and promising prices would "come down like a rock" once the U.S. is "out of there." For the second time in three days, the president who endorsed Hilton tied higher fuel prices to his war, the war Hilton says isn't why Californians pay so much for gas.

San Diego wasn't comforted. Mayor Todd Gloria answered, per Forbes: "Seriously, again? How many times do we have to say it? San Diego is not a prop. San Diego is not a target."

Hilton stayed quiet. A Chronicle column by Jack Ohman noted that as of Tuesday afternoon, Hilton "had yet to comment" on the Nebraska remarks. None of the coverage of the San Antonio rally, in the Times, The Hill or Forbes, reports a word from him either.

He's not the only one

Other Republicans have told voters to swallow the war's costs. Mike Turner went on CBS and told Dayton its gas prices are worth it. Tommy Tuberville said Alabamians are "willing to pay" for Trump's war while diesel went up 80%. At least they answered the question. Hilton wants California's top job and hasn't even done that much.

The bottom line

On October 5, Trump said the Iran war's higher gas prices were "a small price to pay" and added, "Let 'em take out Los Angeles, let 'em take out San Diego." Steve Hilton, the Republican Trump endorsed for California governor, didn't respond when the San Francisco Chronicle asked him about it, while a Republican House candidate in San Diego County condemned it within a day. Two days later, Trump repeated the line in San Antonio ("Let them hit San Diego, let them hit Los Angeles") before adding "We are not going to let that happen," and again called higher oil prices worth paying. Hilton still wasn't reported saying anything. In March, Hilton said high gas prices in California are "not the war in Iran" but "entirely" Newsom's fault. By October, California gas was averaging $6.40 a gallon.

Sources

• California leaders condemn Trump's remarks targeting L.A., San Diego — San Francisco Chronicle, October 6, 2026
• Trump says he won't let Iran strike L.A. or San Diego: 'Not going to let that happen' — Ana Ceballos, Los Angeles Times, October 7, 2026
• Trump Repeats 'Let Them Hit' LA, San Diego Iran War Remarks—But Says He Won't 'Let That Happen' — Siladitya Ray, Forbes, October 8, 2026