Donald Trump Responds To Gavin Newsom's Dare To Arrest Him, Says He 'Would Do It' If He Were The Border Czar
Donald Trump responded to California Governor Gavin Newsom's dare to administration officials to arrest him, with the president suggesting that he would support such a move by his border czar, Tom Homan.
'I would do it if I were Tom. I think it's great,' Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday. 'Gavin likes the publicity … but he's done a terrible job. I like Gavin Newsom. He's a nice guy, but he's grossly incompetent. Everybody knows.'
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On Saturday, Homan threatened the arrest of even public officials who tried to obstruct immigration enforcement raids in Los Angeles. With protests unfolding over the weekend, Trump ordered the National Guard to the city, in what Newsom and others said was an overreaction that would inflame the situation.
As protests continued on Sunday, with scenes of some burning vehicles playing on cable TV and law enforcement trying to quell the demonstration. Disbursement non-lethal shots, flash bangs, and gas canisters were heard being fired over the crowd by the cops.
Newsom was asked by NBC News and MSNBC's Jacob Soboroff about Homan's comments, and told him, 'Come after me. Arrest me.'
'Why doesn't he do that? He's a tough guy. He knows where to find me.'
Trump claimed in a Truth Social post this morning that had they not called in the National Guard, 'Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated.'
But a number of media commentators have noted the relative calm in the sprawling region throughout the weekend, which included the LA Pride parade and festivities.
Newsom has expressed alarm by Trump's move to federalize the guard. The president's order was not specific to Los Angeles, and it has generated warnings that it could open the door to future efforts by the administration to curb protests.
'They are trying to incite violence,' Newsom said. 'They are trying to impose the kind of rhetoric that only makes conditions worse.'
'This is about authoritarian tendencies. This is about command and control. This is about ego,' Newsom said.
Newsom also said that the state is planning to sue the administration, as he was not consulted on the National Guard decision.
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In the early stages of the campaign, Republicans seeking to unseat Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff in one of the key races of the 2026 midterm elections are leaning heavily into attacks over transgender athletes in women's sports. Two GOP-aligned groups launched ads on the issue in recent weeks. And GOP Rep. Buddy Carter hit the airwaves with an ad prodding Ossoff on the issue soon after launching his campaign. Republican candidates and campaigns have frequently leaned on culture war issues in recent years as a way to excite the base and frame Democrats as out of touch, particularly in red-leaning states. And they're even more emboldened after President Donald Trump bombarded then-Vice President Kamala Harris with an onslaught of ads that attacked her support for transgender people during the 2024 election. But while Democrats are gearing up for a difficult re-election fight for Ossoff in a state Trump won narrowly in 2024, they think the issue will be drowned out by voters' concerns about the economy, particularly Trump's handling of it. Even so, it's an issue for which Democrats lack a consensus about how to respond to GOP broadsides, as prominent members of the party grapple with whether to embrace protecting the transgender community as part of their values, deflect the question, or come out against including transgender athletes in women's sports. Ossoff is the only Democratic incumbent defending a seat in a state Trump won last year, making him far-and-away the top target for Senate Republicans. Still, some Republicans admit that Ossoff will be difficult to beat, particularly now that Gov. Brian Kemp decided not to seek the seat. The early Republican criticism of Ossoff points to the Democratic senator's vote on legislation in February that would make it a Title IX violation (jeopardizing federal education funding) for states to allow transgender women and girls to participate in female sports. The bill failed to get the 60 votes it needed to advance in the Senate. One Nation, the nonprofit aligned with Senate Republicans' main super PAC, has spent at least $400,000 airing an ad reminiscent of a key tagline from one of Trump's anti-Harris ads from last year: 'Man-to-man defense isn't woke enough for Ossoff, he's playing for they/them.' Carter's opening salvo of ads included a spot touting the congressman's MAGA credentials while a person purporting to be a transgender woman holds sports trophies and stands in front of a transgender pride flag talking about how Ossoff has been an ally to the community. 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But the economy was also a top issue in the 2024 election, and Trump and the Republican Party still managed to turn their attacks on trans issues into a memorable tagline that stuck with some voters. That's why one national Republican strategist told NBC News that the attack isn't a "replacement" for a cogent economic argument, but "part of the equation." 'It's an issue that obviously had a massive impact in 2024. The Trump campaign's 'Harris is for they/them' ad is one of the greatest ads of our generation in that it's so simple and was so effective,' the strategist said. Ads about transgender participants in women's sports can run "on top of: Oh, he also voted to help ensure that illegal immigrants get government-paid health care and he voted against the Laken Riley amendment in 2024 before it was convenient," the strategist added. While the transgender sports attacks are drawing headlines, both sides have been running ads focused on spending in Washington, too. Democrats have attacked the GOP's policy bill working its way through Washington, and Republicans hit Ossoff for backing former President Joe Biden's signature spending bill in 2022. Tharon Johnson, a Georgia Democratic strategist who worked for Biden's 2020 campaign in the state, agreed that Republicans are "going to be hard-pressed to make Jon Ossoff into this radical," in part because of his work both in office and on the campaign trail. And while he believes the situation Harris found herself in last year isn't the same one Ossoff finds himself in now, he said Democrats can still draw a lesson from it: "Respond sooner, and more effectively." So far, Ossoff's response has been to stay focused on the economy and try to frame the debate as about local control. This article was originally published on
