Image source, Getty Images
- Author, Kayla Epstein
- Author's title, BBC News
Donald Trump has long talked about using military force to repress protesters who protest their policies and presidency. This week the angels gave him the opportunity.
After some protests against federal immigration raids became chaotic, Trump ignored the will of the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, and activated the State National Guard.
This measure, as declared military to the BBC, was an escalation of Trump's previous promises to use soldiers to quell the protests and sat a new precedent.
In addition to Trump's fans for the military image – a military parade in Washington DC is planned on Saturday to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the US Army Foundation.
“He intensified the situation immediately for purely political reasons. They are not justifiable reasons,” said General Manner, who served as an interim deputy chief of the National Guard office.
However, Trump's government argues that it took control of the California National Guard to restore order and protect agents from the customs immigration and control service (ICE) while performing raids of undocumented immigrants in Los Angeles.
The ICE “has the right to carry out operations safely in any state and jurisdiction of the country,” said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, at a hearing in Congress on Tuesday.
Trump also published on social networks that Newsom “could not provide timely protection” to ICE agents.
“If our soldiers had not entered Los Angeles, it would be in flames right now,” the president wrote in Truthsocial on Wednesday.
But Newsom, Trump's Democrat and Open Critical, said the State could only control protesters. He described Trump's intervention as a “shameless abuse” that exacerbated an “explosive situation.”
On Thursday, a federal judge declared illegal Trump's deployment and ordered him to return the guard of the guard to Newsom. That order is suspended by an appeal from the government.
Image source, Getty Images
The protests have continued for almost a week and the Los Angeles Police have made hundreds of arrests, mainly to refuse to disperse, but also for violating the curfew in the center of Los Angeles, possession of firearms and aggression to a police officer.
Trump's decision to remove the National Guard control from Newsom goes beyond his hard positions against protests, especially in states led by Democrats.
After George Floyd's death in 2020, which triggered national demonstrations in favor of police reform and racial justice, Trump requested a militarized response.
Trump criticized Floyd's death, which occurred in police custody in Mineapolis, Minnesota.
But as the protests exploded and some derived in looting, Trump asked the Democratic governors to be “much more hard”, and warned: “The federal government will intervene and do whatever it is necessary, which includes using the unlimited power of our armed forces and making numerous arrests.”
When the protesters then marched in Washington DC, Trump tweeted that, if they had broken into the White House, “they would have been received with the fiercest dogs and the most sinister weapons they have ever seen.”
During the protests in Washington DC, helicopters of the National Guard flew over low height to disperse the crowd.
A subsequent investigation of the US army concluded that the incident was an improper use of military medical aircraft, according to the newspaper The Washington Post.
Image source, EPA
“What we are seeing in Los Angeles is a perfect storm,” said John Acevedo, associate dean of the Emory Law Faculty, who studies freedom of expression and protests in the United States.
“There are protesters, they are violent. An ideal situation for President Trump, who can make use of his goal of using troops against protesters.”
The president has the power to federalize the soldiers of the National Guard, and can do so when necessary abroad or when states request additional assistance.
However, in normal circumstances nationwide, the request for assistance begins at the local level.
The governor can then activate the State Guard or request federal assistance from the President.
The US presidents have not taken control of the National Guard of a State against the will of a governor since the time of the struggle for civil rights.
In those time, President Dwight Eisenhower intervened to facilitate racial integration into a school in Arkansas and President Lyndon B. Johnson later requested the Alabama soldiers to protect the protesters.
“Throughout the decades, we have developed statutes, regulations and protocols that govern our management of civil disturbances for very solid reasons,” said the largest retired general William Enyart, former congressman who also led the Illinois National Guard from 2007 to 2011.
Trump chose to “ignore all that experience acquired with so much effort,” added General Enyart.
Consider the actions of the president in Los Angeles as “political theater” and refers to a small number of protesters who burned Waymo autonomous cars during the weekend.
“Trump is the master of the reality shows. Think that these are an excellent television model. What is more exciting than seeing a couple of autonomous cars burning on the street? “Asks General Enyart.
Subscribe here To our new newsletter to receive every Friday a selection of our best content of the week.
And remember that you can receive notifications in our app. Download the latest version and act.
