California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) knocked President Trump in a video address late Tuesday, after the Trump administration deployed thousands of National Guard soldiers and Marines to Los Angeles in an effort to quell immigration protests.
The governor said while the state is no stranger to immigration enforcement, the administration was not focusing on illegal immigrants with criminal records or those with deportation orders — but “indiscriminately targeting hard-working immigrant families regardless of their roots or risk.”
In the message, Newsom reiterated his urgency for Trump and others not to disperse more federal forces in the city, citing fears that a threat of retaliation would only grow.
“This brazen abuse of power by a sitting President inflamed a combustible situation,” the governor said.
“That’s when the downward spiral began. He doubled down on his dangerous National Guard deployment by fanning the flames even harder,” he continued. “And the President did it on purpose.”
The president and administration officials have repeatedly pegged Newsom as a leader unequipped to handle the outbreak of protests while accusing him of encouraging violence against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.
“The INCOMPETENT Governor of California was unable to provide protection in a timely manner when our Ice Officers, GREAT Patriots they are, were attacked by an out of control mob of agitators, troublemakers, and/or insurrectionists,” Trump wrote in a Wednesday Truth Social post.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung also slammed the governor in a Tuesday post on social platform X, writing, “NewScum must’ve hired Kamala and Biden’s loser campaign team because he saying this is a ‘threat to democracy.’ FOH.”
However, Newsom said since soldiers’ arrival, the outrage has only escalated among demonstrators.
“Trump is pulling a military dragnet across LA, well beyond his stated intent to just go after violent and serious criminals,” he said in his message. “His agents are arresting dishwashers, gardeners, day laborers and seamstresses – That’s just weakness. Weakness, masquerading as strength.”
“Donald Trump’s government isn’t protecting our communities – they are traumatizing our communities. And that seems to be the point,” the governor added.
Newsom also touted his lawsuit against the Trump administration seeking to address the unlawful deployment of the state’s National Guard with a hearing scheduled for Thursday. The hearing comes after a judge rejected the governor’s emergency request to limit troop deployment, giving both sides more time to present evidence.
Trump on Wednesday defended his decision in a post on Truth Social.
“If our troops didn’t go into Los Angeles, it would be burning to the ground right now, just like so much of their housing burned to the ground,” he wrote. “The great people of Los Angeles are very lucky that I made the decision to go in and help!!!”
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