Trump Advisers Once Opposed Using Active-Duty Troops at Protests. Not Anymore.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he was prepared to send active-duty Marines to the Los Angeles area to respond to demonstrations.
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New York Times
26 minutes ago
- New York Times
The President Is Playing With Fire, Which Is Just How He Likes It
It's hard to avoid the conclusion that the Trump administration is spoiling for a fight on America's streets. On Saturday, after a protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests degenerated into violence, the administration reacted as if the country were on the brink of war. The violence was unacceptable. Civil disobedience is honorable; violence is beyond the pale. But so far, thankfully, the violence has been localized and, crucially, well within the capacity of state and city officials to manage. But don't tell that to the Trump administration. Its language was out of control. Stephen Miller, one of President Trump's closest advisers and the single most important architect (aside from Trump himself) of the administration's immigration policies, posted one word: 'Insurrection.' Vice President JD Vance wrote on X, 'One of the main technical issues in the immigration judicial battles is whether Biden's border crisis counted as an 'invasion.'' That statement set the stage. He wants courts to believe we're facing an invasion, and any disturbance will do to make his point. 'So now,' Vance continued, 'we have foreign nationals with no legal right to be in the country waving foreign flags and assaulting law enforcement. If only we had a good word for that …' Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, posted his own screed on X, declaring that the Department of Defense 'is mobilizing the National Guard IMMEDIATELY to support federal law enforcement in Los Angeles. And, if violence continues, active duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized — they are on high alert.' Trump posted on Truth Social, 'If Governor Gavin Newscum, of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, can't do their jobs, which everyone knows they can't, then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
S.F. protesters rally against ICE raids and Trump's deployment of National Guard
The Bay Area resistance to President Donald Trump's immigration raids escalated Sunday as hundreds of protesters in San Francisco denounced his extraordinary deployment of federal troops to quell protests hundreds of miles away in Southern California. Demonstrators gathered about 6 p.m. near a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office downtown to express solidarity with those in Los Angeles County who have rallied against immigration agents targeting people for deportation at businesses and court hearings. In response to the protests, Trump on Saturday announced that he would send 2,000 National Guard soldiers to Los Angeles. After troops arrived in Los Angeles on Sunday, protesters blocked traffic on Highway 101 and reportedly set autonomous vehicles on fire as authorities fired tear gas and declared an unlawful assembly. Dozens of people were arrested over the weekend. In San Francisco, organizers said before their show of solidarity that they didn't want to wait for federal agents to 'descend and tear apart our communities.' The demonstration came days after advocates reported that at least 15 people, including children as young as 3 years old, were detained during scheduled check-ins at the San Francisco ICE office. About 500 protesters gathered peacefully on Sunday outside the ICE building on the corner of Washington and Sansome streets, shutting down the intersection. 'When immigrants are under attack, what do we do?' a demonstrator shouted through a megaphone. 'Stand up, fight back,' the crowd chanted. Signs in the crowd read: 'F— ICE, immigrants are welcome here, 'Stop ICE raids, don't break up immigrant families,' 'Immigration built this nation' and 'No one is illegal on stolen land.' The National Guard deployment by Trump intensified a feud with California that has simmered throughout the early months of his second term in the White House. It's the first time in 60 years that a president has deployed the National Guard without the request of a state governor, but the circumstances are far different. When President Lyndon Johnson sent troops to Alabama to protect a 1965 civil rights march led by the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., he did so because the state's segregationist governor had declined to send in the Guard. In this instance, Trump overrode the wishes of Gov. Gavin Newsom, who said there was 'no unmet need' for additional law enforcement in Los Angeles. Newsom on Sunday urged Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to rescind what the governor called an 'unlawful deployment of troops.' 'We didn't have a problem until Trump got involved,' Newsom said in a social media post. 'This is a serious breach of state sovereignty — inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they're actually needed.' Hegseth and Trump, however, have shown no indication that they will back down anytime soon. Hegseth on Saturday threatened to send Marines stationed at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County to help crack down on Southern California protests — an idea that Newsom called 'deranged.' Trump, for his part, wrote on his social media website Sunday that Los Angeles had been 'invaded and occupied' by undocumented immigrants and criminals and that 'lawless riots' in the city would 'only strengthen our resolve.' Trump said he had directed his administration to 'to take all such action necessary to liberate Los Angeles.' 'Order will be restored, the Illegals will be expelled, and Los Angeles will be set free,' he said.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Hegseth brings warfighter mentality to media relations
The Defense Department's relationship with reporters has gone from bad to worse following a string of missives from Secretary Pete Hegseth and his office aimed at controlling the Pentagon press corps. Hegseth's war on the media includes taking desks away from legacy outlets, locking the doors to one of the few places reporters have access to the internet in the Pentagon, and restricting their movement within the building. Compounding the breakdown in media relations is a staffing shortage in the Pentagon's public affairs shop, with at least 12 officials in the office reportedly leaving in recent weeks. The office officially held 32 people at the start of the year. That has left one of the government's largest agencies often unresponsive amid a steady stream of scandals and public relations snafus, though it maintains an active 'DOD Rapid Response' account on the social platform X, which posted on Saturday, 'we will always deliver on our promise of transparency.' The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment on this article. Hegseth often talks about bringing a warfighting mentality to the Pentagon. His hostile approach to the media comes at the detriment of the American public, said Jonathan Katz, senior director for the Anti-Corruption, Democracy and Security Project at the Brookings Institution. 'Americans need to understand what's happening in the Department of Defense because it's critical to U.S. national security and to their everyday lives,' Katz told The Hill. 'Right now it looks like the Pentagon, led by Mr. Hegseth, is doing everything it can do to not share critical information with the public. That is problematic.' Since the start of President Trump's second term, the Defense Department has transformed how it typically engages with the press, largely shunning traditional media. Chief Pentagon spokesperson and senior adviser Sean Parnell has briefed the press on camera once since taking on the role in February, and Hegseth has yet to address reporters in the department's briefing room. When Hegseth does address the media, it's mostly from the White House alongside President Trump or while he is traveling. But he has shaped how he is covered on those trips by limiting the number of reporters that come with him — on some trips handpicking those from more right-leaning outlets that skew toward favorable coverage of the department. When Hegseth traveled to Guantánamo Bay in late February, he took just one reporter, his former colleague, Fox News host Laura Ingraham. Hegseth and Parnell have instead put out near-weekly 'situation reports,' video updates from the Pentagon that espouse positive headlines and commitments to 'transparency.' The DOD Rapid Response X account both plays up positive news about Hegseth and denigrates news stories and reporters that show him in a negative light. Alex Wagner, a former Pentagon official-turned-public affairs professor at Syracuse University, said the channeling of all communication into 'easily retweeted videos that are highly scripted without any chance for questions' undermines service members and confidence that defense leaders have their best interests at heart. 'It's absolutely critical that the people who are serving and sacrificing and their families understand not only what is happening to service members and their dependents, but also why it's happening,' Wagner told The Hill. 'I'm just surprised President Trump and his team are allowing it, given their repeated affirmations that they are running the most transparent administration in history,' he added, pointing to the contrast with the White House and State Department, where officials regularly brief the media. Things are only getting worse for the Pentagon press corps. Just working in the building has become arduous for many outlets after Hegseth's office in early February took away the desks of eight legacy media outlets: NBC News, The New York Times, NPR, Politico, CNN, The Washington Post, The Hill and The War Zone. The reporters had to vacate their spaces for outlets more sympathetic to the Trump administration, including One America News Network, the New York Post, Breitbart News, Newsmax, the Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller and The Free Press. The department called the shifts a 'media rotation program,' but the move was bashed by the Pentagon Press Association, which called it 'unreasonable.' Later that same month, the Pentagon banned reporters from the press briefing room unless officials were holding a briefing — which has only happened once in more than five months. This barred media from one of the few places in the building that had access to Wi-Fi to file stories. And last month, after a string of embarrassing headlines for Hegseth, including that he mishandled sensitive information in March when he relayed over Signal detailed plans to strike Houthi militants in Yemen — to a group chat that included a journalist — the Pentagon barred reporters from freely walking in certain areas of the building. Areas that are off limits now include Hegseth's office spaces and the Joint Chiefs of Staff office spaces 'without an official approval and escort from the Office of the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs,' according to a May 23 memo signed by the Pentagon chief. The decision limits press access to hallways reporters have historically had access to under past Republican and Democratic presidential administrations, with Parnell on X calling the restrictions 'pragmatic changes to protect operational security.' It also eliminates 'the media's freedom to freely access press officers for the military services who are specifically hired to respond to press queries,' the Pentagon Press Association said in a statement. The group further called the restrictions 'a direct attack on the freedom of the press and America's right to know what its military is doing.' The National Press Club urged the department to reverse course, as 'restricting access doesn't protect national security. It undermines public trust,' the organization's President Mike Balsamo said in a statement. And a third press group, Military Reporters & Editors, said it was 'deeply troubled' by the restrictions, the likes of which hadn't been seen before at the Pentagon. 'This isn't meant to protect the republic, it is designed to impose a chill,' the organization said in a statement. 'It is a disservice to the American public, troops, veterans and families who rely on a dedicated free press to shine the light on matters of vital interest.' Further limitations are likely coming, with Hegseth's memo alluding to reporters having to soon sign a pledge to protect sensitive military information or risk losing their press badge. 'It's as if there's a separate standard for transparency and accountability that the Pentagon is not upholding under Secretary Hegseth that they're asking others to uphold,' said Katz. 'This is disconcerting for the American public that relies on the media to understand in a transparent, accountable way what the Pentagon is doing. And right now, Americans are losing faith that one of the most important national security institutions is not being truthful,' he added. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
