Past National Guard deployments in LA: What to know
While Vice President J.D. Vance has referred to the protesters as "insurrectionists" and senior White House aide Stephen Miller described the protests as a "violent insurrection," President Donald Trump has not invoked the Insurrection Act.
Under the 1807 law, the president may have the legal authority to dispatch the military or federalize the Guard in states that cannot control insurrections under or are defying federal law.
In June 2020, USA TODAY reported that Trump had considered invoking the Insurrection Act over protests in response to the murder of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a former Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck on a street corner in May 2020. Protestors clashed with police across the country, including in Los Angeles, which prompted then-Mayor Eric Garcetti to ask Newsom for members of the Guard to be sent to the city.
At the time, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and others urged against deploying domestic troops to quell civil unrest.
In 1994, a magnitude 6.7 earthquake - known as the Northridge earthquake - shook the San Fernando Valley, which is about 20 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. The earthquake caused an estimated $20 billion in residential damages, according to the California Earthquake Authority. The Guard was sent as part of the disaster assistance operation.
The last time the Insurrection Act was invoked was in 1992 by former President George H.W. Bush, when the acquittal of the Los Angeles Police Department officers who beat Rodney King sparked civil unrest in Los Angeles, which left more than 60 people dead and 2,300 injured, according to the Bill of Rights Institute. Thousands of members of the Guard, the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps were deployed in the city.
In 1965, nearly 14,000 Guard troops were sent to Los Angeles amid the Watts riots at the request of the California lieutenant governor, according to Stanford University's Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute.
Contributing: Reuters
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The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
Trump is deliberately ratcheting up violence in Los Angeles
Donald Trump was on his way to Camp David for a meeting with military leaders on Sunday when he was asked by reporters about possibly invoking the Insurrection Act, allowing direct military involvement in civilian law enforcement. Demonstrations against Trump's draconian immigration arrests had been growing in Los Angeles, and some of them had turned violent. Trump's answer? 'We're going to have troops everywhere,' he said. I know Trump is 'a delusional narcissist and an orange-faced windbag', to borrow the words of the Republican senator Rand Paul, and that this president governs using misdirection, evasion, and (especially) exaggeration, but we should still be worried by this prospect he raises of sending 'troops everywhere'. Already, Trump and his administration have taken the unprecedented steps of calling up thousands of national guard soldiers to Los Angeles against the wishes of the California governor, of deploying a battalion of hundreds of marines to 'assist' law enforcement in Los Angeles, and of seeking to ban the use of masks by protesters while defending the use of masks for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents. Needless to say, none of this would be happening if these times were normal. What makes this moment abnormal is not the fact that Los Angeles witnessed days of mostly peaceful protests against massive and destructive immigration arrests. We've seen such protests countless times before in this country. Nor is it the fact that pockets of such protests turned violent. That too is hardly an aberration in our national history. What makes these times abnormal is the administration's deliberate escalation of the violence, a naked attempt to ratchet up conflict to justify the imposition of greater force and repression over the American people. The Steady State, a non-partisan coalition of more than 280 former national security professionals, has issued a warning over these events. 'The use of federal military force in the absence of local or state requests, paired with contradictory mandates targeting protestors, is a hallmark of authoritarian drift,' the statement reads. 'Our members – many of whom have served in fragile democracies abroad – have seen this pattern before. What begins as provocative posturing can rapidly metastasize into something far more dangerous.' The hypocrisy of this administration is simply unbearable. If you're an actual insurrectionist, such as those who participated in the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol by destroying federal property and attacking law enforcement officers, you'll receive a pardon or a commutation of your sentence. But if you join the protests against Ice raids in Los Angeles, you face military opposition. Then there's Stephen Miller. The White House deputy chief of staff unironically posts on social media that 'this is a fight to save civilization' with no apparent awareness that it is this administration that is destroying our way of life, only to replace it with something far more violent and sinister. Are we about to see Trump invoke the Insurrection Act? It's certainly possible. On the White House lawn on Monday, Trump explicitly called the protesters in Los Angeles 'insurrectionists', perhaps preparing the rhetorical groundwork for invoking the act. And by invoking the Insurrection Act, Trump would be able to use the US military as a law enforcement entity inside the borders of the United States – a danger to American liberty. The Insurrection Act has been used about 30 times throughout American history, with the last time being in Los Angeles in 1992. Then, the governor, Pete Wilson, asked the federal government for help as civil disturbances grew after the acquittal of four white police officers who brutally beat Rodney King, a Black man, during a traffic arrest. The only time a president has invoked the Insurrection Act against a governor's wishes has been when Lyndon Johnson sent troops to Alabama in 1965. But Johnson used the troops to protect civil rights protesters. Now, Trump may use the same act to punish immigration rights protesters. One part of the Insurrection Act allows the president to send troops to suppress 'any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy' in a state that 'opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws'. According to Joseph Nunn at the Brennan Center, '[t]his provision is so bafflingly broad that it cannot possibly mean what it says, or else it authorizes the president to use the military against any two people conspiring to break federal law'. No doubt, Trump finds that provision to be enticing. What we're discovering during this administration is how much of American law is written with so little precision. Custom and the belief in the separation of powers have traditionally reigned in the practice of the executive branch. Not so with Trump, who is dead set on grabbing as much power as quickly as possible, and all for himself as the leader of the executive branch. To think that this power grab won't include exercising his control of the military by deploying 'troops everywhere', whether now or at another point in the future, is naive. Such a form of governance, with power concentrated in an individual, is certainly a form of tyranny. But tyranny, as Hannah Arendt reminds us in On Violence, is also 'the most violent and least powerful of forms of government'. And while a government may have the means to inflict mass violence, it is ultimately the people who hold the power. These are the lessons we need to be studying, and implementing on our streets everywhere, while we still can. Moustafa Bayoumi is a Guardian US columnist
The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
‘The language of authoritarianism': how Trump and allies cast LA as a lawless city needing military intervention
Donald Trump and his allies turned to a familiar script over the weekend, casting the sprawling city of Los Angeles in shades of fire and brimstone, a hub of dangerous lawlessness that required urgent military intervention in order to be contained. 'Looking really bad in L.A.,' Trump posted on Truth Social in the very early hours of Monday morning. 'BRING IN THE TROOPS!!!' But contrary to the Trump administration's characterization of an entire city in tumult, the demonstrations were actually confined to very small areas and life generally went on as usual across much of the city. Protests began on Friday outside the federal building in downtown LA following reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents were conducting raids nearby. The protests later spread to the cities of Paramount and Compton in response to reported and rumored raids there too, and demonstrators faced off with local and state authorities armed with less-lethal munitions and tear gas. By Sunday, despite objections from local officials, Trump made the unusual move of asserting control over California's national guard and deployed 300 soldiers to support Ice (nearly 2,000 troops were mobilized in total). As a pretext to this action, the Trump administration had characterized the protests as a broader threat to the nation. On X, White House deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, called Los Angeles 'occupied territory'. 'We've been saying for years this is a fight to save civilization. Anyone with eyes can see that now.' 'A once great American City, Los Angeles, has been invaded and occupied by Illegal Aliens and Criminals,' Trump posted on Truth Social. 'Now violent, insurrectionist mobs are swarming and attacking our Federal Agents to try and stop our deportation operations – But these lawless riots only strengthen our resolve.' FBI director, Kash Patel, wrote on X that LA was 'under siege by marauding criminals'. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a history professor at New York University and scholar on fascist and authoritarian movements, says the rhetoric coming from the Trump administration is 'an authoritarian trick'. 'You create a sense of existential fear that social anarchy is spreading, that criminal gangs are taking over. This is the language of authoritarianism all over the world,' said Ben-Ghiat. 'What is the only recourse to violent mobs and agitators? Using all the force of the state. Thus we have the vision of the national guard, armed to the teeth. It's like a war zone. That's on purpose, it's habituating Americans to see those armed forces as being in combat on the streets of American cities.' Ben-Ghiat pointed specifically to a post on X by defense secretary, Pete Hegseth. 'The violent mob assaults on ICE and Federal Law Enforcement are designed to prevent the removal of Criminal Illegal Aliens from our soil,' Hegseth wrote. 'A dangerous invasion facilitated by criminal cartels (aka Foreign Terrorist Organizations) and a huge NATIONAL SECURITY RISK.' Ben-Ghiat said Hegseth employed 'the classic authoritarian thing, of setting up an excuse, which is that the internal enemy, illegal criminal aliens, is working together with an external enemy, the cartels and foreign terrorists, and using that to go after a third party, of protesters, regular people, who came out to show solidarity'. In his post, Hegseth added that active duty marines at Camp Pendleton were on 'high alert' and would also be mobilized 'if violence continues. On Monday, the Pentagon said it had mobilized approximately 700 marines. CNN reported that the government was still ironing out 'rules of engagement' for encountering protesters. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion The protests turned violent when federal immigration authorities used flash bang grenades and tear gas against demonstrators, per reporting in the Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times. Over the weekend, fiery and chaotic scenes played out in downtown LA, Compton and Paramount. Dozens of people were arrested for an array of crimes, including an alleged tossing of a molotov cocktail towards Iceofficers. Protesters shut down a freeway, several self-driving vehicles were torched and dumpsters were set alight, and there were scattered reports of looting. Still, as mayor Karen Bass noted on CNN on Monday, on 'a few streets downtown, it looks horrible', but there was 'not citywide civil unrest'. Local officials said that the addition of troops, who were seen standing shoulder to shoulder on Sunday holding wooden bats, long guns and shields, to the already fraught situation only made things worse. Bass described the decision to involve the national guard as a 'chaotic escalation',; Governor Gavin Newsom called it 'inflammatory'. Newsom said on Monday that he will sue the Trump administration; attorney general Rob Bonta later previewed that lawsuit by telling the public that the Trump administration 'trampled' on the states sovereignty by bypassing the Newsom. 'This was not inevitable,' Bonta said of the demonstrations that built over the weekend following immigration raids across Los Angeles, adding: 'There was no risk of rebellion, no threat of foreign invasion. No, inability for the federal government to enforce federal laws.' The inclusion of the national guard functioned as a show of force against a powerful blue state that Trump – and his allies – have cast as an existential threat to the rest of America, in part on account of its 'sanctuary status', meaning local officials don't cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. 'Simply put, the government of the State of California aided, abetted and conspired to facilitate the invasion of the United States,' Stephen Miller wrote on X. As Trump and his allies fomented chaos on the streets, Maga-world personalities and some Republican officials added to the mayhem by sharing misinformation online. Senator Ted Cruz and Infowars's Alex Jones reshared a video, originally posted by conservative commentator James Woods, of a burning LAPD car during a protest in 2020, claiming it was from the current LA unrest. Prominent accounts also shared a video from last year of a flash mob attack on a convenience store clerk, claiming that violent protesters were currently assaulting a small business owner. An account called US Homeland Security News, which has almost 400,000 followers, posted an image of a stack of bricks with the caption: 'Alert: Soros funded organizations have ordered hundreds of pallets of bricks to be placed near ICE facilities to be used by Democrat militants against ICE agents and staff!! It's Civil War!!' The image, which was also used to spread false information about Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020, was taken from a building supply company in Malaysia. Trump has also repeatedly suggested that some of the individuals involved in the protest were 'paid', invoking a popular rightwing conspiracy about dark money bankrolling liberal causes. This, too, is another tactic out of the authoritarian playbook, according to Ben-Ghiat. 'If there are any protests against the autocrat, you have to discredit them by saying they are crisis actors, they are foreign infiltrators,' Ben-Ghiat said. 'You have to discredit them in the public eye.' Officials in LA are bracing for further protests. The Los Angeles police department received back-up from at least a dozen police forces in southern California, according to the Los Angeles Times. California's attorney general, Rob Bonta, said on Monday that he thinks it's 'highly likely' that all 2,000 of the national guard soldiers who were mobilized will be deployed to LA. The weekend's unrest also casts a potential shadow over Trump's military parade slated for this Thursday in Washington DC. Opponents of that event are organizing protests across the US under the banner of 'No Kings'.
NBC News
4 hours ago
- NBC News
Steve Kornacki: The geographic dividing lines shaping New Jersey's primary
Rep. Mikie Sherrill heads into Tuesday's primary as the favorite to win the Democratic nomination for governor of New Jersey. She has blanketed the pricey New York and Philadelphia metro airwaves with television ads, she enjoys the backing of much of the party's establishment, and she had opened double-digit leads in two polls that were released several weeks ago. There is uncertainty, though. Credible public polling has, overall, been limited and infrequent. And court-imposed changes to the layout of the primary ballot could dramatically dilute the power of the endorsements Sherrill has received from key county Democratic organizations. Sherrill's opponents have each made inroads. But, at least so far, that seems to have had the effect of keeping them in one another's way, preventing one from emerging as the clear alternative to Sherrill. Consider the state's political geography. You can draw a line south of Mercer and Monmouth counties, roughly where Route 195 would be on a map. Below that is South Jersey. Democratic politics here are dominated by an old-fashioned political machine that is backing the lone South Jersey candidate in the field: former state Sen. Steve Sweeney. The trouble for Sweeney is that only about 30% of all primary votes will come from tis region. And because South Jersey is part of the Philadelphia media market, he's not well-known in the rest of the state, which is served heavily by the New York market. And to the extent he is known, Sweeney's connection to the South Jersey machine is a liability. According to a May Insider NJ poll, conducted by StimSight Research, more Democratic voters said the term 'typical machine politician' applies to him than any other candidate. No wonder he has lagged far behind in polling. Then there's vote-rich North Jersey, where the other candidates can all claim some advantage. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka is likely to win his city — the state's largest — overwhelmingly. Newark is also the seat of Essex County, which has more registered Democrats than any other county. More than 40% of Essex's population is Black, which should further boost Baraka, the lone Black candidate in the race. Nearby Union County, which has the second-highest share of Black residents, could offer another trove of votes. Baraka has also made a wider play for the party's progressive base. He has run hard to the left, and he burnished his anti-Trump credentials when he was arrested at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility last month. Coupled with deep Black support, that could be the makings of a potent coalition in a statewide primary. But Baraka has encountered traffic in the progressive lane thanks to the presence of Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, who is also embracing left-wing themes and has framed his candidacy as a war on the Democratic establishment. Insider NJ's poll asked Democrats whether any of the candidates stood out to them as being 'a true progressive.' Baraka and Fulop were cited more than anyone else — by far. In other words, they are each garnering support the other could badly use. Another candidate, Rep. Josh Gottheimer, has pitched his message more toward the middle, promising tax cuts and emphasizing cost-of-living issues. Gottheimer won his House seat by flipping what had been a reliably Republican district, and he has amassed an enviable campaign bankroll. He figures to perform strongly in suburban Bergen County, his political base, and he has been endorsed by Bergen's official Democratic organization. But when he entered the race, Gottheimer was counting on his perceived electability to gain the support of multiple major county organizations in North Jersey — not just his home county. Those organizations retain the feeling of old political machines, with their own formidable turnout operations and the ability to spend on their preferred candidates' behalf. Last year, Gottheimer seemed to notch a big one, when leaders from Hudson County (which includes Fulop's Jersey City) gave him their support. It was, he hoped, the first of many big dominoes to fall. But that deal crumbled apart over the winter, and the Hudson organization instead endorsed Sherrill. And Gottheimer kept missing out, too. Besides Bergen's, his only other party endorsement comes from tiny rural Warren County in the northwest corner of the state. Instead, it was Sherrill and her perceived electability that those county machines decided to go in with. Like Gottheimer, she also flipped a longtime GOP seat en route to Congress and has been a potent fundraiser. Her background as a Navy fighter pilot has also been a key selling point. Outside of Bergen's, Sherrill has won the endorsement of every major county machine in North Jersey — which as a region will produce about 70% of all votes in the primary. The near-unanimous show of establishment support has created a sense of momentum around Sherrill's campaign and sent a signal to donors and other influencers to get on board. And that's on top of the practical get-out-the-vote advantage it provides her. That having been said, there's a major ingredient missing this year: 'the line.' In the past, county parties would have been able to provide Sherrill with a highly preferential spot on primary ballots. But a court ruling undid that power last year. To what extent that dulls the power of the machines in primary elections is something everyone will be watching for in Tuesday's results. Still, Sherrill has managed to avoid the downsides of being associated with establishment politics. Only 20% of Democrats say the term 'typical machine politician' fits her — half the percentage who said the same about Sweeney in the same Insider NJ poll. That poll also found that an outright majority of Democrats said she could win the November election, far more than anyone else. Each major candidate will have pockets of deep support Tuesday. In polls and endorsements, though, Sherrill has shown the potential to perform well across the board, even in counties where she isn't the top vote-getter. If she can realize that potential Tuesday, victory will be hers. But it has to be said that we are flying blind here. If the dynamics of the race have shifted in the last few weeks, there has been almost no public polling that would catch it. And the demise of 'the line' has pushed the primary further into uncharted territory. The history of New Jersey Democratic primaries says Sherrill should win — but is history still worth anything in 2025?
