Trump manufactures a crisis in LA
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
ICE officers and members of the California National Guard confront protesters outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)
For years, President Trump has dreamed of mobilizing the military against protesters in the United States. On Saturday night, Trump made it a reality, ordering the deployment of 2,000 members of the California National Guard — against the wishes of state and local officials — in response to protests against federal immigration raids on workplaces in and around Los Angeles. By the time Trump issued the order, the protests consisted of a few dozen people at a Home Depot .
The move violated longstanding democratic norms that prohibit military deployment on American soil absent extraordinary circumstances. The last time the National Guard was mobilized absent a request from local officials was in 1965 — to protect civil rights protesters in Alabama marching from Selma to Montgomery.
Trump strongly advocated for using the military to quell racial justice protests in the summer of 2020. He encouraged governors to deploy the National Guard to "dominate" the streets. "If a city or state refuses to take the actions necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them," Trump said.
Behind the scenes, Trump was even more ruthless. According to a 2022 memoir by former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Trump asked Esper if the military could shoot at people protesting George Floyd's murder. "Can't you just shoot them?" Trump allegedly asked. "Just shoot them in the legs or something?"
On another occasion that summer, according to a book by journalist Michael Bender, Trump announced that he was putting Army General Mark Milley, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in charge of quelling the protests. This reportedly led to a shouting match:
"I said you're in f---ing charge!" Trump shouted at him.
"Well, I'm not in charge!" Milley yelled back.
"You can't f---ing talk to me like that!" Trump said. …
"Goddamnit," Milley said to others. "There's a room full of lawyers here. Will someone inform him of my legal responsibilities?"
The lawyers, including Attorney General Bill Barr, sided with Milley, and Trump's demand was tabled. (Trump called Bender's book "fake news.")
During a March 2023 campaign rally in Iowa, Trump pledged to deploy the National Guard in states and cities run by Democrats, specifically mentioning Los Angeles:
You look at these great cities, Los Angeles, San Francisco, you look at what’s happening to our country, we cannot let it happen any longer… you’re supposed to not be involved in that, you just have to be asked by the governor or the mayor to come in, the next time, I’m not waiting. One of the things I did was let them run it, and we’re going to show how bad a job they do. Well, we did that. We don’t have to wait any longer.
In October 2023, the Washington Post reported that Trump allies were mapping out executive actions " to allow him to deploy the military against civil demonstrations ."
In an October 2024 interview on Fox News, Trump again pushed for the National Guard and military to be deployed against " the enemy within ," which he described as "radical left lunatics."
"We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left lunatics," Trump said. "And I think they’re the big — and it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military, because they can’t let that happen."
Were there "violent mobs"?
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump's mobilization of the National Guard was necessary because "violent mobs have attacked ICE Officers and Federal Law Enforcement Agents carrying out basic deportation operations in Los Angeles, California." Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the National Guard would "support federal law enforcement in Los Angeles" in response to " violent mob assaults on ICE and Federal Law Enforcement ."
These claims were directly contradicted by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), which described Saturday's protests as " peaceful ."
The LAPD statement said it "appreciates the cooperation of organizers, participants, and community partners who helped ensure public safety throughout the day."
There were some reports of violence and property damage in Paramount and Compton, two cities located about 20 miles south of Los Angeles. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said it " arrested one person over the protest in Paramount " and "two officers had been treated at a local hospital for injuries and released." As for property damage, "one car had been burned and a fire at a local strip mall had been extinguished."
Trump's order, however, says the unrest in California is so severe it constitutes " a form of rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States " that necessitates the mobilization of military personnel. Although any violence and property destruction is a serious matter, local law enforcement appears fully capable of responding to the situation.
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Trump's unusual legal theory
The Posse Comitatus Act generally prohibits using the military for domestic law enforcement without specific statutory (or Constitutional) authority. The most famous exception to the Posse Comitatus Act is the Insurrection Act, which permits the President to deploy the military for domestic law enforcement under specific circumstances . But, historically, the Insurrection Act has " been reserved for extreme circumstances in which there are no other alternatives to maintain the peace ." It also requires the president to issue a proclamation ordering "the insurgents to disperse and retire peaceably to their abodes within a limited time."
Trump, however, invoked a different federal law, 10 U.S.C. 12406 . That provision lacks some of the legal and historical baggage of the Insurrection Act, but it also confers a more limited authority. That is why Trump's proclamation authorizes the National Guard to "temporarily protect ICE and other United States Government personnel who are performing Federal functions, including the enforcement of Federal law, and to protect Federal property, at locations where protests against these functions are occurring or are likely to occur." In other words, the National Guard is not authorized to engage in law enforcement activities, but to protect others doing that work. It remains to be seen whether the administration will respect these limitations in practice.
Trump is confused
At 2:41 a.m. on Sunday morning, Trump posted : "Great job by the National Guard in Los Angeles after two days of violence, clashes and unrest." At the time, the National Guard had not yet arrived in Los Angeles. Trump had spent the evening watching three hours of UFC fighting in New Jersey .
Trump also asserted, without evidence, that those protesting the immigration raids were "paid troublemakers."
The National Guard arrived in Los Angeles much later on Sunday morning , when the streets were already quiet.
Trump told reporters on Sunday that he did not consider the protests an " insurrection " yet. About an hour later, Trump claimed on Truth Social that "violent, insurrectionist mobs are swarming and attacking our Federal Agents to try to stop our deportation operations."
Trump's order mobilizing the National Guard, however, likely inflamed tensions — and that may have been the point. Federal and state authorities clashed with protesters in downtown LA on Sunday afternoon. Law enforcement "used smoke and pepper spray to disperse protesters outside a federal detention center in downtown Los Angeles," according to the Los Angeles Times .
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Over the weekend Trump said he will send troops into every city. He is someone who can manufacture crisis (remember the "stolen" election in 2020?) so dont be surprised if there are troops in numerous cities as the summer progresses.
These piddly little anti-Trump protests are not working. We need a large scale , peaceful protest, involving hundreds of thousands of people in one location. That is the only thing that will get our totally inept media's attention.
And then what?
LA police chief basically tells Mayor Bass and Newsom to go screw themselves. They're corrupt incompetents who are not fit to hold office. And directly responsible for the insurrection in California. Trump is doing what had to be done to tamp down the violence of these criminals.
Surreal gaslighting by the left.
flag waving Mexican nationalists rioted because literal felons (including rapists and murderers) with deportation orders were arrested by ICE. That’s it. If progressives followed the rule of law and allowed criminals with deportation orders to be arrested,none of this would have happened. Now we have an insurrection on our hands.
Nice for cohesions sake your definition of insurrection matches your leader's.[✘]
Now that Trump’s tariffs have been halted, his One Big Beautiful Bill has been stymied, and his multibillionaire tech bro has turned on him, how does he demonstrate his power?
On Friday morning, federal agents from ICE, the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Drug Enforcement Administration conducted raids across Los Angeles, including at two Home Depots, a doughnut shop, and a clothing wholesaler, in search of workers they suspected of being undocumented immigrants.
They arrested 121 people.
They were met with protesters who chanted and threw eggs before being dispersed by police wearing riot gear, holding shields, and using batons, guns that shot pepper balls, rubber bullets, tear gas, and flash bang grenades against the protesters.
On Saturday, Trump intentionally escalated the confrontations, ordering at least 2,000 National Guard troops to be deployed in Los Angeles County to help quell the protests.
He said that any demonstration that got in the way of immigration officials would be considered a “form of rebellion.” Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, called the protests an “ Insurrection. ”
Saturday evening, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth threatened to deploy active-duty Marines, saying, “The violent mob assaults on ICE and Federal Law Enforcement are designed to prevent the removal of Criminal Illegal Aliens from our soil. A dangerous invasion facilitated by criminal cartels (aka Foreign Terrorist Organizations) and a huge NATIONAL SECURITY RISK. Under President Trump, violence and destruction against federal agents and federal facilities will NOT be tolerated.”
Friends, we are witnessing the first stages of Trump’s police state.
Last week, raids in San Diego and Massachusetts — in Martha’s Vineyard and the Berkshires — led to standoffs as bystanders angrily confronted federal agents who were taking workers into custody.
Trump’s dragnet also includes federal courthouses. ICE officers are mobilizing outside courtrooms across America and are immediately arresting people — even migrants whose cases have been dismissed by judges.
History shows that once an authoritarian ruler establishes the infrastructure of a police state, that same infrastructure can be turned on anyone.
Trump is rapidly creating such an infrastructure:
We are not at martial law yet, thankfully. But once in place, the infrastructure of a police state can build on itself. Those who are given authority over aspects of it — the internal militia, dragnets, detention camps, and martial law — seek other opportunities to invoke their authority.
As civilian control gives way to military control, the nation splits into those who are most vulnerable to it and those who support it. The dictatorship entrenches itself by fomenting fear and anger on both sides.
Right now, our major bulwarks against Trump’s police state are the federal courts and broad-based peaceful protests — such as the one that many of us will engage in this coming Saturday, June 14, on the No Kings Day of Action (information here ).
If you are in the National Guard or active-duty military and you believe you are being ordered to violate the constitutional rights of U.S. citizens, I urge you to call the GI Rights Hotline for advice and support, at 877-447-4487.
It is imperative that we remain peaceful, that we demonstrate our resolve to combat this tyranny but do so nonviolently, and that we let America know about the emerging infrastructure of Trump’s police state and the importance of resisting it.
These are frightening and depressing times. But remember: Although it takes one authoritarian to establish a police state, it takes just 3.5 percent of a population to topple him and end it.
Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at
Has the national guard moved from protecting the federal building the rioters attacked in the days before?
They were actually throwing rocks, chunks of concrete, bags of urine, Molotov cocktails, and other objects. You can try to whitewash their violence and criminal behavior, butt all the videos of the riots can't be denied.
Where was the LAPD?
Bass held them back a few hours, The Chief finally had enough and moved in.
These things have to be ended right away. We learned that in 2020.
The Republicans should have ended the traitor Trumps political career right away after the 2020 election, but didnt have the balls to do it. Now we have the most corrupt administration in American history led by a lunatic. Of course it will get worse before it gets better. It is impossible to empower someone like Trump and expect things to go well. They will never go well until he and his lackeys are gone.
Evidently you think the people are with this mob.
I don't know how to break it to you John, but they aren't.
As usual, actually as always, you dont respond to what has been said to you.
I'm only trying to stay on topic. I thought this article was about the riots.