The struggle between President Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom over unrest in Los Angeles reached new heights on Monday, with Trump saying he’d assist the arrest of one of many high Democrats within the nation and a attainable presidential contender in 2028.
Escalating protests within the Metropolis of Angels over raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement have pitted the 2 leaders collectively in a conflict that has apparent political alternatives for Trump and dangers for Newsom.
For Trump, California supplies a dependable foil as he aggressively pushes a crackdown on immigration. The photographs of burning automobiles and masked males waving Mexican flags kind the right backdrop for the “law and order” message the Trump White Home says it is going to impose on the nation.
And the photographs are weapons to make use of in Trump’s argument that Democrats are too delicate and unable to maintain cities protected from violent unrest.
There are alternatives for Newsom, too, because the battle supplies an opportunity for the high-profile Democrat to face as much as Trump in a method that would bolster his standing the liberal grassroots.
“The President of the United States just called for the arrest of a sitting Governor. This is a day I hoped I would never see in America,” Newsom posted Monday on the social platform X shortly after Trump’s feedback about arresting him.
“I don’t care if you’re a Democrat or a Republican this is a line we cannot cross as a nation — this is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism.”
But there are clear dangers for Newsom as effectively if voters see him as too delicate on these committing legal acts in Los Angeles. Group Trump on Monday pushed its argument that the California chief and different Democrats can’t be trusted to maintain the peace after Newsom stated his state would sue the administration over its choice to ship the Nationwide Guard to LA with out the approval of native officers.
“Gavin Newsom’s feckless leadership is directly responsible for the lawless riots and violent attacks on law enforcement in Los Angeles. Instead of filing baseless lawsuits meant to score political points with his left-wing base, Newsom sho/uld focus on protecting Americans by restoring law and order to his state,” White Home spokesperson Abigail Jackson stated.
If there’s a danger for Trump, it’s seemingly a well-known one to previous presidents in each events: overreaching.
Trump is starting the week by changing into the primary U.S. president to ship the Nationwide Guard to a state with out the approval of native officers since President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965, who on the time was in search of to guard civil rights protesters within the segregated South. On the finish of the week, Trump plans to carry a full navy parade.
Each choices feed into the Democratic narrative that he’s a harmful president with authoritarian impulses, an argument Newsom leaned into Monday.
“This is a real battle for both of them,” stated one Democratic strategist earlier than turning to the potential dangers for the president.
“Trump thinks this is politically helpful for him and he’s marginally right, but he has a tendency to overreach,” the strategist stated.
Then again, Newsom, the strategist stated, “is trying to balance this kind of reshaping of his public narrative as not your average San Francisco liberal. He’s trying to position himself as a national liberal. Shaking off some of that image is showing a stiff upper lip in a situation like this.”
Trump and Newsom have been political rivals for years, with the dynamic vacillating between fierce criticism and occasional shows of collegiality.
Even on Monday, Trump referred to as Newsom a “nice guy” who he appreciated earlier than including that the Californian was “grossly incompetent.”
Newsom has praised Trump throughout instances of disaster, together with early within the coronavirus pandemic and through pure disasters which have impacted his state. The 2 males had a pleasant alternate on the tarmac in January when Trump visited California to tour wildfire harm, and Trump hosted Newsom on the White Home in February.
However their dynamic has extra often been marked by animosity.
Trump and his allies have for years painted California as a logo of every part mistaken with liberal governance, pointing to excessive taxes, authorities regulation and points with homelessness and immigration. Trump often berates the governor as “Newscum” and has threatened to withhold federal funding from the state.
Newsom has used his perch as governor of essentially the most populous state within the nation to aggressively criticize Trump and his insurance policies. Democrats and Republicans alike considered Newsom’s emergence as a high Trump critic throughout the Biden administration as setting himself up for a White Home bid of his personal.
The present state of affairs in LA is an ideal storm for Newsom, stated Julian Zelizer, a professor of public affairs and historical past at Princeton College.
“He has a genuine policy crisis on his hands, a rapid escalation of tensions within Los Angeles and with the president. He is dealing with serious issues of overextension of presidential power,” Zelizer stated.
“At the same time as a possible candidate for president, everything is handled through a political prism: If the president turns this against him, makes him look like a candidate who cannot protect law and order, it could be extremely damaging to his own political career.”
Trump on Monday wouldn’t rule out deploying Marines to California, which might additional escalate the state of affairs, although he signaled issues gave the impression to be cooling down.
“We’ll see what happens. I think we have it very well under control. I think it would have been a very bad situation,” Trump stated at a White Home occasion. “And we hope to have the support of Gavin, because Gavin is the big beneficiary as we straighten out his problems.”
Garry South, a outstanding Democratic strategist based mostly in California, stated the concept of sending troops to the Golden State is harmful.
“Newsom is doing the right thing both substantively and politically — by pushing back on Trump’s unprecedented militarization of domestic policy,” he stated. “It’s a fraught second for our democracy, for a president to show troops free on the American folks.
“Like everything Trump does, it’s all for political benefit, to make himself look like a tough guy to his MAGA base by taking on California, but it’s just another warning sign that we could end up being Chile under Pinochet if he is unchecked,” South added.
