The recent flare up in the Los Angeles area caused by ICE agents sweeping up people for deportation without warrants has escalated as Trump has commandeered the California National Guard, over the objection of California governor Gavin Newsom, and also sent in Federal troops, both moves being of highly dubious legality, only supposed to be done in the case of war or a national emergency. The events in Los Angeles are clearly nothing of the sort. What sending those troops in did was inflame the situation and cause even more trouble.
Trump is as usual lying about everything.
Trump and Newsom’s rift continued with ferocity on Tuesday.
Trump, who has suggested Newsom should be arrested, said he spoke to Newsom by phone “a day ago” and told him: “He’s gotta do a better job.”
“There was no call. Not even a voicemail,” Newsom responded on social media. “Americans should be alarmed that a president deploying marines on to our streets doesn’t even know who he’s talking to.”
But the local community was uncowed by the presence of heavily armed and militarized personnel in riot gear and masks patrolling the streets and forming barricades. They defied the soldiers. Via Pharyngula I saw this image of a young person with a skateboard insouciantly ignoring whatever projectiles and gas grenades were being fired at him and, after dancing in front of the troops, calmly walked away and gave them the finger.
Just before the previous clip, the skater kid was practically taunting the Border Patrol agents by dancing around their munitions shots.
— Jeremy Lindenfeld (@jeremotographs.bsky.social) June 7, 2025 at 3:47 PM
At the ICE raid and subsequent community resistance in Paramount, California this morning, this skater kid ate dozens of munitions from Border Patrol agents, walked away slowly and flipped them off.
— Jeremy Lindenfeld (@jeremotographs.bsky.social) June 7, 2025 at 2:59 PM
The skateboarder’s behavior is being compared to the behavior of the lone man with a shopping bag standing in front of a Chinese tank during the 1989 Tiananmen protests that led to this iconic photograph.
This is the heroism America needs now.
— brahmavihara.bsky.social (@brahmavihara.bsky.social) June 7, 2025 at 9:53 PM
So why did Trump choose to escalate this protest into something bigger? Because I think he is itching to use the US military on his behalf, as if it is his personal army. The army is forbidden by law to take part in any internal policing actions, except in extreme emergencies and he is going to claim that everything is a national emergency in order to try and normalize their presence on streets. The US will become like other countries (including Sri Lanka in the past) where it was normal to see armed soldiers at street corners and in front of government buildings, who could search you and even detain you without a warrant, just because they felt like it. They also want you to get used to the idea of armed and masked people (because they are too scared to reveal themselves) in civilian clothes driving around in unmarked vehicles and kidnapping people off the street. In other words, make the US just like some of the worst dictatorships that have existed.
There may also be a shorter-term agenda. This coming Saturday is Flag Day but is also Trump’s birthday. He has ordered a military parade in Washington DC, an expensive vanity project, favored by dictators. But protests are being organized nationwide in over 1,800 locations under the No Kings umbrella. The joint protest has attracted a large number of organizations including civil rights groups and unions.
Trump may be concerned that protestors will disrupt his parade and is setting the stage to crack down if any such thing should occur. In order to not give Trump an excuse to bring out the troops in DC, the organizers have chosen to have protests everywhere except in the nation’s capital, with the main one being in Philadelphia (though a local group known as Free DC is hosting a picnic-like even called DC Joy at a park). You can find an event near you on the map on the No Kings home page.
Ah, but Harris SMILED! In public, even! Therefore there was no choice but to vote for…this.
Heather Cox Richardson quoted someone as saying Trump’s overwrought reaction to the protests in Los Angeles might be because 1) Trump needs to deflect attention from his Big Beautiful Bill which is not popular with the public and may not pass in the Senate. 2) Elon Musk gave Trump a dressing down last week. 3) It is quite possible Putin is focusing his anger at Trump for his (Putin’s) humiliating losses by Ukraine. Shows of military might might make Trump feel better about himself.
To add to the above, I’ve heard that this will also give Trump something to claim he has accomplished during his upcoming birthday speech. With the BBBill stalled, the economy publicly teetering, being obviously played by Putin, publicly embarrassed by Ukraine, and a very public break-up with his bestie Elon, Trump needs some new ‘positive’ accomplishment to brag about.
But to be honest, I’m not certain I buy that. First, this feels like a typical Trump reaction, maybe pushed a bit by Miller and Hegseth. Second, I’ve never known Trump to need to generate a topic to talk about. He can claim how great his BBBill is, he can claim to still be best-buds with Putin and Elon, he might even claim that the US advised Ukraine on operation spiderweb. He is not bound by facts or truthfulness. And of course, Trump’s other recent accomplishment of restoring the names of military bases to those of seditionists and slave-owners. He’ll be able to brag about that.
For some reason, The Algorithm served me this up today:
https://www.facebook.com/reel/693054907050211/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v
So say we all.
Speaking of past democratic collapse in Sri Lanka—have you seen this article?