Democrats blast Trump's decision to send National Guard to Los Angeles: ‘They want a spectacle'
Several Democrats on Sunday criticized President Trump for ordering thousands of National Guard troops to the Los Angeles area in response to immigration protests over the past two days.
Trump has ordered 2,000 troops to assist immigration agents in quelling the protests in L.A., where demonstrators are rallying against federal immigration raids. Troops began arriving in L.A. on Sunday morning.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Saturday said the move is a result of 'violent mobs' attacking 'Federal Law Enforcement Agents carrying out basic deportation operations' in recent days.
Trump said California Democrats Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass were to blame for the unrest that began as a result of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. Newsom responded to Trump's order by calling it 'purposefully inflammatory' and stating that 'there is currently no unmet need.'
'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!!!' Trump wrote in a Saturday Truth Social post.
On Sunday morning, Newsom, in a post on the social platform X, claimed the federal government is 'taking over the California National Guard' because 'they want a spectacle.'
'Don't give them one. Never use violence. Speak out peacefully,' he added.
In a separate post, Newsom reiterated his call for demonstrators to stay peaceful, claiming that Trump is 'hoping for chaos so he can justify more crackdowns, more fear, more control.'
He also slammed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's threat to deploy active-duty Marines into LA, calling it 'deranged behavior.'
Bass, in a Saturday night interview, said deploying the National Guard was 'completely unnecessary' and that it would only escalate tensions.
'My conversations with the administration today have been to assure them that if there are protests that break out and if there is violence associated with those protests, that the Los Angeles Police Department is well equipped to handle that,' she said. 'Two thousand officers, 2,000 in our city will not be a positive thing and will not be helpful.'
Both Newsom and Bass also called out Trump for thanking National Guard troops on Sunday morning before they had arrived in LA.
Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.) on Sunday echoed Bass in that the troops in the LA area are 'going to escalate the situation.'
'It's a concern,' Barragán told CNN's Dana Bash on 'State of the Union.' 'I mean, it's going to escalate the situation. People are going to protest because they're angry about the situation, and we have to just reiterate to people to do it peacefully.'
Democrats outside of California have also pushed back on the Trump administration over its handling of the immigration protests.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Sunday went after Trump over the deployment of 2,000 National Guard members to the Los Angeles area, saying the president 'thinks he has a right to do anything.'
'He does not believe in the Constitution; he does not believe in the rule of law,' Sanders told Bash of Trump on 'State of the Union.'
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) slammed Trump's response to the protests as 'hypocritical at best' compared to how he responded to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
'Since years before I was born, law enforcement knows it's good when there's cooperation and coordination,' Booker said. 'For the president to do this when it wasn't requested, breaking with generations of tradition, is only going to incite the situation and make things worse.'
He compared Trump's reaction to the LA protests to his response to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
'We are now at a point where we have a president who sat back and did nothing as people stormed our Capitol, viciously beat police,' he continued. 'And then when those people who viciously beat police and led to some of their deaths, therefore, cop killers, were convicted by juries, he then pardoned them all.'
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on X claimed Trump was not trying to 'heal or keep the peace.'
'He is looking to inflame and divide. His movement doesn't believe in democracy or protest – and if they get a chance to end the rule of law they will take it. None of this is on the level,' he added.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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