For months during the 2024 campaign, Donald Trump promised to use the military domestically. His campaign telegraphed it via news coverage and reports from friendly nonprofits; Trump mused about using soldiers against protests. After he defeated Kamala Harris, the then-President-elect reminded everyone that he wanted to see “military assets” used as an adjunct to mass deportations.
Now, the administration has taken the first serious step towards turning these lurid fantasies into reality.
We’re following along below as the situation develops.
Background
- On June 7, Trump issued an order purporting to federalize the California National Guard, with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth carrying out the instruction to send at least 2,000 troops to Los Angeles. Per the order, the Guard will escort and support Department of Homeland Security officials as they carry out immigration enforcement. Later that week, the administration deployed another 2,000 members of the Guard and roughly 700 Marines.
- It's the first time since the civil rights era that a President has federalized a state National Guard unit absent a request from the state's governor. Though the troops cannot serve as law enforcement under Trump's order — he'd need to invoke the Insurrection Act to do that — it's a serious escalation: the President is now deploying the military in response to protests.
- Los Angeles had become a focal point of protests against the Trump administration's increasingly aggressive immigration detention operations after attention-grabbing ICE raids in the city. Those protests, largely nonviolent, at times morphed into confrontations between demonstrators and law enforcement.
- At no point have state or local officials indicated that the situation required federal aid. The LAPD issued a statement on the day that Trump federalized the Guard calling the protests "peaceful."
- Some senior White House officials, including Stephen Miller, have enjoyed publicly toying with more extreme uses of the military over the past few days, including invoking the Insurrection Act.
For months during the 2024 campaign, Donald Trump promised to use the military domestically. His campaign telegraphed it via news coverage and reports from friendly nonprofits; Trump mused about using soldiers against protests. After he defeated Kamala Harris, the then-President-elect reminded everyone that he wanted to see “military assets” used as an adjunct to mass deportations.
Now, the administration has taken the first serious step towards turning these lurid fantasies into reality.
We’re following along below as the situation develops.
Two men acting like little boys playing soldiers. Add in that Pete Hegseth can’t hold on to underlings, and we’re ripe for another US military vs the People.
DonOLD really is the Drama Queen of all Drama Queens.
Hard to believe this is where we’re at, unless of course you’ve been paying attention for the past 9 years. Donnie has a boner for using the troops against protesting citizens because he’s sick in the head and surrounded by equally f’d up minions. This is just the beginning. That said, CA isn’t w/o power. There’s a lot of money in the form of taxes that can be used as leverage. Be brave Gov Newsom and all of California!
The order "…very bluntly states that “protests” or “actions of violence” are a “form of rebellion against the authority” of the U.S. government if they “directly inhibit the execution of the laws.”
Clear-cut evidence that the Orange Asshole has never read the Constitution he has twice sworn to “preserve, protect and defend.” The First Amendment is pretty clear on this…how do we stop this madness?
One thing that genuinely concerns me is the use of neck gaiters by National Guard troops to obscure their faces. It’s no surprise that police and civilian federal law enforcement of the various departments are using fascist tactics to hide their identities, but service members shouldn’t be doing that. National Guard units rely on civilians trusting them during natural disasters to accomplish their missions, which is aided by being (1) identifiable and (2) able to have a conversation.
If it’s an order coming down from above, we’ll soon hear about it because Soldiers love to complain on social media. I assume it’s not their decision, as gaiters are warm even in the winter and the idea of wearing it in the summer in LA is miserable.
Minor quibble.
The U.S. government (Trump) derives its authority from the consent of the governed.