Court Gives Trump License to Militarize U.S. Cities Against Protests
Trump has long desired to use the United States military against the American people. His wish fulfilled.
Protest against ICE raids in Los Angeles
June 20 On Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned a lower court's order that California's National Guard be returned to Governor Gavin Newsom's control, ruling that President Trump was justified in federalizing the state's Guard without Newsom's concurrence.
The three-judge panel, two of them Trump appointees, ruled unanimously that the protests over ICE agents seizing brown-skinned people off the streets of Los Angeles had become overheated enough that "affording appropriate deference to the president’s determination" is warranted, "that he likely acted within his authority (italics ours)".
President Trump exulted in the decision, insulting the governor in the process, tweeting:
"The judges obviously realized that Gavin Newsom is incompetent and ill prepared, but this is much bigger than Gavin because all over the United States, if our Cities, and our people, need protection, we are the ones to give it to them should State and Local Police be unable, for whatever reason, to get the job done. This is a great decision for our Country..." (capitalization his).
This has been his dream, not to govern, but to rule. The doctrine of states' rights is not for him. Trump has long desired to use the United States military against the American people. Restrained by advisers who told him he needed to wait for governors to ask for federal help, he regretted not taking direct action against the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. "The next time, I am not waiting” to send in the National Guard or the military, he said.
He lunged for the first opportunity to make good on that threat: the protest in Los Angeles.
The court decision pertained only to Los Angeles but Trump immediately extended it to "all over the United States". We can now expect him to…