After protests erupted in response to federal agents raiding businesses around Los Angeles to arrest immigrants, President Donald Trump quickly decided to dump fuel on the fire: On Saturday night, the president declared that he would deploy 2,000 National Guard troops to the city.
Given that presidents usually only activate the National Guard upon a governor’s request, it’s an extraordinary step that bypasses California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s authority, since Newsom made no such appeal.
This isn’t the first time Trump has considered sending in the military to squash local protests. In 2020, when nationwide protests broke out after a police officer murdered George Floyd, Trump also wanted to display an overwhelming show of force to respond to the demonstrations — so much so that he even inquired about shooting protesters. But a standoff between Trump and the Pentagon eventually pushed the president to decide against deploying troops across the country.
This time, Trump has a more subservient Pentagon. On Saturday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on X that “if violence continues, active duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized,” adding that “they are on high alert.”
The chaos unfolding in Los Angeles underscores that Americans are living under an administration that is far too eager to use the power of the state to suppress dissent and a president who is far too keen on siccing the military on American citizens. Trump’s latest effort might make 2020 look like a trial run and shows just how unrestrained the president has become.
Can Trump deploy the National Guard without governors’ consent?
It is generally illegal to use federal troops for law enforcement within the United States. But there are exceptions. The Insurrection Act — one of the president’s emergency powers — allows the president to use the military against American citizens on domestic soil, including in nonconsenting states, to quell an armed rebellion or extreme civil unrest.
That’s why President Lyndon B. Johnson was able to deploy the National Guard to Alabama without its governor’s consent in 1965 — the last time a president activated a state’s National Guard troops against that state’s wishes, as Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, told the New York Times. The Insurrection Act itself was last invoked in 1992, when President George H. W. Bush used it to send troops to Los Angeles in response to the Rodney King riots. However, that action was taken upon then-Gov. Pete Wilson’s request.
So far, Trump has not invoked the Insurrection Act. Instead, he has cited Section 12406 of the US Code, which gives the president the authority to call members of the National Guard of any state into federal service when “there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.” The president can use as many troops as he considers necessary to “repel the invasion” or “suppress the rebellion.”
That statute, however, is more limited than the Insurrection Act since it applies only to the National Guard and not the US Armed Forces more broadly. It also states that the order to call in National Guard troops should be issued by governors.
Since California did not issue that order, Newsom has said Trump’s move to federalize California’s National Guard is “unlawful” and requested that the federal government rescind the deployment. Newsom indicated that his office intends to sue the Trump administration over this matter.
Trump is escalating his assault on Americans’ fundamental rights — just like he said he would
Trump has long made clear his disdain for dissent and protests against him, and now he’s taking it to the next level.
His move to deploy National Guard troops in California is already an escalation from how he responded to the George Floyd protests in 2020. At the time, Trump focused his efforts on Washington, DC, where — perhaps in a prelude to how he is handling the protests in Los Angeles today — he sent National Guard troops from 11 states into the nation’s capital. DC’s mayor objected to the deployment, but because DC is not a state, Trump had more leeway to exercise military muscle. He ultimately decided against deploying the military in other states.
Trump’s reliance on federal officers to squash protests made DC a testing ground for a strategy he could eventually try elsewhere. What he’s now doing in California is the natural next step.
Indeed, after Trump left the White House in 2021, he lamented over his administration’s supposed restraint during the George Floyd protests and said that should he return to power, he wouldn’t wait for governors to make requests for federal assistance. “You’re supposed to not be involved in that, you just have to be asked by the governor or the mayor to come in,” he said in a 2023 campaign rally. “The next time, I’m not waiting.” During the campaign trail, he and his allies mapped out plans to invoke the Insurrection Act on his first day back in office to quell protests with military force.
That is precisely why so many feared a second Trump term. Where Trump may have shown more restraint in his first administration — because he feared political consequences or because some officials stood in the way — critics feared he would be more unleashed in his second, both because he has nothing to lose and because his Cabinet would be staffed with even more loyalists. And that seems to be what’s happening now, with the Pentagon seeming just as eager as Trump to unleash the US military on US soil and against American citizens.
This is all part of Trump’s broader assault on democracy — and his attack on the First Amendment in particular. Since coming back to the White House, Trump hasn’t hesitated to punish people for exercising their right to free speech and their right to protest, going after students for participating in protests against Israel. His administration has detained and tried to deport protesters for merely expressing pro-Palestinian views, sending unidentified plainclothes immigration officers to abduct dissidents.
Trump is now trying to use the might of the US military to further suppress people’s free speech rights, dramatically expanding his crackdown on people’s rights. And while Trump cited “violence and disorder” as the reason he deployed National Guard troops, local law enforcement had not indicated that they were in need of federal assistance to restore order.
What likely pushed Trump to deploy the National Guard (and get other members of the Armed Forces ready) is that he simply saw an opportunity to do so and he seized it. He is clearly more emboldened and even more averse to norms than ever before.
Since Trump got himself involved in the protests, tensions have only escalated. But if anything, that might be what Trump wants: a dramatic standoff between protesters and federal troops. Ultimately, this strategy is less about “law and order” and more about sending a message to Americans across the country: speak out against Trump and there will be consequences.
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