Trump trades barbs with California's Gavin Newsom over protests: ‘Civil war would happen'
US President Donald Trump and California Governor Gavin Newsom shot barbs at each other.
Trump's border czar Tom Homan threatened to arrest Newsom.
The protests in California put Newsom on the national stage.
US President Donald Trump said Monday it would be 'great' if California Governor Gavin Newsom was arrested, in an extraordinary threat as the two men sparred over protests in Los Angeles.
Republican Trump, 78, deployed the National Guard in America's second city on Saturday after clashes erupted over immigration raids - but he did not seek the Democratic governor's consent, the first time a US president has taken such an action in 60 years.
As temperatures rose, Newsom, 57, then dared Trump's border czar Tom Homan over the weekend to arrest him, after Homan said the governor and LA Mayor Karen Bass could face federal charges of trying to impede immigration agents.
'I would do it if I were Tom. I think it's great,' Trump told reporters when asked if Homan should arrest Newsom, as the Republican president arrived on his Marine One helicopter at the White House.
'Gavin likes the publicity, but I think it would be a great thing.'
Trump said Newsom, who has been widely tipped as a possible 2028 presidential candidate, had 'done a terrible job' in curbing the Los Angeles clashes.
'Look, I like Gavin Newsom, he's a nice guy - but he's grossly incompetent, everybody knows,' Trump said.
Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Trump later said that 'I don't want a civil war,' but that 'civil war would happen if you left it to people like him.'
Newsom has bitterly accused Trump of manufacturing the crisis for political gain, saying that local law authorities could have handled the protests without the National Guard.
On Sunday, he blasted border chief Homan, telling MSNBC: 'Come after me, arrest me, let's just get it over with, tough guy.'
The Democrat then branded Trump as 'dictatorial' later on Monday after the Trump administration deployed 700 active-duty Marines to Los Angeles.
Immigration protests in Los Angeles are proving a stern test of Newsom's leadership of California, but the unrest also hands the ambitious governor a unique opportunity, say analysts, as he weighs a presidential run in 2028.
Rarely a shrinking violet, the 57-year-old chief executive of the country's largest and richest state has eagerly taken up the Democratic Party's cudgel against Trump's immigration crackdown.
A presumed frontrunner for the Democratic leadership, Newsom has made no secret of his political ambitions and appears to be relishing his chance for a public showdown with Trump.
As the latest front in Trump's immigration crackdown played out on the streets, the Democrat was brawling on social media, vowing to sue Trump over a 'serious breach of state sovereignty'.
'Every political crisis is a political opportunity,' Jeff Le, a former senior official in California state politics who negotiated with the first Trump administration, told AFP.
In California, where President Trump polls at 30%, it's a potential gift for the governor to showcase stark differences between the two.
Jeff Le
Le said Newsom's defiant showing would delight a Democratic base 'desperate for a fighter'.
But he warned that a prolonged stand-off in LA - and particularly an escalation of violence or vandalism - could erode public sympathy, especially if Trump seeks to target California's federal funding.
A former mayor of San Francisco, Newsom has been at the helm of the Golden State for six years, making it a haven for liberal priorities such as abortion access and anti-deportation 'sanctuary cities'.
He has been talked of as a future Democratic president for years, and has bolstered his national profile with bold overtures beyond his own state, including debating Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Fox News.
Mandel Ngan/AFP
But he has courted controversy on his own side for appearing at times too chummy with Republicans, a criticism fuelled by the launch in March of a podcast featuring friendly chats with provocative right-wing guests.
His reputation also lost some of its sheen among centrists during the pandemic, when he was slammed by business owners for onerous public health restrictions.
A lunch that Newsom attended with lobbyists at an opulent Napa Valley restaurant during the partial lockdown became infamous.
The President of the United States just called for the arrest of a sitting Governor.
This is a day I hoped I would never see in America.
I don't care if you're a Democrat or a Republican this is a line we cannot cross as a nation — this is an unmistakable step toward… pic.twitter.com/tsTX1nrHAu
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 9, 2025
An Economist/YouGov poll released last week showed Newsom has ground to make up, as his net popularity rating of -13 points is significantly worse than Trump's still underwhelming -7 points.
'There's no question Gavin Newsom is trying to use this moment to elevate his national profile, casting himself as the face of Democratic resistance to Donald Trump,' said veteran political strategist Charlie Kolean.
But the analyst cautioned that Newsom would damage his presidential ambitions if voters thought he was taking the side of criminals over security forces in his drive to be seen as a defender of civil rights.
'Voters overwhelmingly want law and order - it's one of the core issues Trump ran on and won big with,' Kolean told AFP.
'Americans want leaders who protect public safety and stand with law enforcement - not ones who politicise unrest.'
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