Vice President JD Vance watched with pride on Saturday as Marines fired 155-millimeter artillery shells over a major freeway in Southern California, calling the demonstration a “testament to the corps’ strength and unbeatable power.”
Gavin Newsom, the Democratic governor of the state, deemed it an “absurd show of force” and “dangerous.”
Mr. Vance used a speech in front of hundreds of Marines to attack Democrats over the government shutdown, referring to the impasse as the “Schumer shutdown,” a dig at Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader. Throughout the day, protesters filled streets in American cities, including nearby Los Angeles and San Diego, lambasting the Trump administration’s domestic agenda and its consolidation of power.
What the White House had initially planned as a celebration of the country’s 250th birthday and of the might of the Marines became half of a revealing split-screen: As the likely heir of Mr. Trump’s political movement showcased the power of the military over the objections of a state governor, thousands of people across the country protested a president they accused of using his power like a king.
The overlapping events amounted to a snapshot of the fractured state of American society and of the rising tensions between the federal government and Democratic leaders, who have clashed repeatedly with Mr. Trump in recent months over his use of the military in domestic affairs.
“The values Americans cherish are under assault by” Mr. Trump, Mr. Newsom said in a social media post on Saturday. He said California would continue “peacefully pushing back against the Trump Administration’s authoritarian takeover.”
Mr. Vance’s aides accused Mr. Newsom of stoking fear, saying the Marine Corps had determined that the exercise at Camp Pendleton did not pose a threat. “It’s pretty shocking that Gavin Newsom knows so little about what goes on at one of the most important military installations in his state,” said William Martin, Mr. Vance’s communications director.
Mr. Newsom said that he simply wanted more communication about the plans. State officials said they had barely received any information about the demonstration from federal officials, and that were told earlier in the week that the demonstration would not involve firing munitions across the freeway.
While the Trump administration argued that the exercise was routine, representatives for the Marine Corps did not answer questions about how many times it had previously fired live munitions over the California freeway.
Before the M777 howitzers fired from Red Beach at Camp Pendleton, California officials closed Interstate 5, the heavily traveled corridor between Los Angeles and San Diego, for hours. The state said it had made the decision because of potential hazards from the demonstration.
The Marines initially planned to fire multiple rounds from Red Beach east over the highway. But the exercise was eventually scaled back, effectively a compromise amid the dispute between federal and state officials.
During his speech, Mr. Vance, who served a tour in Iraq and worked as a media relations officer in the Marine Corps, said that the entirety of the demonstration — the live ammunition, the parachuters descending from the sky, the Navy seals swimming ashore, the F35 jets flying overhead — made his “heart sing as your vice president.”
He praised the storied history of the Marines. But as Mr. Trump has done in military addresses in recent months, he leaned eagerly into politics, casting the troops as victims of a progressive cultural agenda.
He questioned the military diversity programs the Trump administration had gutted. “It is not our diversity that makes us stronger. It is our common purpose,” Mr. Vance said.
Criticizing Democrats, Mr. Vance pledged that the administration would ensure troops were paid during the government shutdown, after Mr. Trump directed the Defense Department to use “all available funds” to do so, a short-term fix that does not apply to hundreds of thousands of other federal employees.
“He wanted me to tell each and every single one of you that he’s proud of you, that he loves you, and that despite the Schumer shutdown, he is going to do everything he can to make sure you get paid exactly as you deserve,” Mr. Vance said, referring to Mr. Trump.
Mr. Vance, appearing to recognize the boundaries he was testing, added: “I know we’re here to talk about the Marine Corps. But I have got to get just a little political. Because congressional Democrats seem to want to keep the government shut down even though it would mean that a lot of you would not get your paycheck.”
David Nelson, a former captain and lawyer in the Marines, called Mr. Vance’s speech detailing the history of the corps “stirring,” saying it had made him feel proud that he had joined the Marines in 1965. But he noted that the speech was delivered close to Los Angeles, where Mr. Trump had deployed hundreds of Marines earlier this year following protests over immigration raids.
“Since the primary purpose of the Marine Corps is to protect our country against foreign enemies, I do hope that Marines are not relegated to assisting with local law enforcement activities, potentially pitting U.S. Marines against Americans,” said Mr. Nelson, who watched the speech on television.
North of the Red Beach demonstration area of Camp Pendleton, where the sound of military helicopters smothered the noise of rolling breakers, Sara Kennedy, a longtime San Clemente resident, wondered why Mr. Vance was overseeing the military exercise when long-term pay for federal workers remained in jeopardy.
“It’s frustrating that we’re having to live through this type of time where it seems like peoples’ lives don’t matter, for a show,” said Ms. Kennedy, 41.
Larry St Marie, 77, a retired longshoreman and Vietnam War veteran who lives in San Clemente, did come out to see the military show on Saturday. He said he had noticed a decline in “flag wavers” as the country had become more polarized.
He found himself questioning how the country — and the government — had reached such a divisive state, he added.
“It’s crazy why we’re in this position,” Mr. St Marie said. “Doesn’t make sense to me. It should have never got to this point.”
John Ismay contributed reporting.
Zolan Kanno-Youngs is a White House correspondent for The Times, covering President Trump and his administration.
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