WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom have each approached the fiery confrontation over immigration enforcement in Los Angeles to advocate for their respective political bases. Political experts warn there are risks for both.
Trump has called Newsom “grossly incompetent” and said the city would be burning from protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement without his deployment of 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines. Newsom has called the military deployment the “acts of a dictator” and filed a lawsuit to block the troop deployment. The 57-year old Democratic governor dared Trump and border czar Tom Homan to arrest him, as they suggested they could.
“In a way, it benefits both Trump and Newsom. Trump’s core supporters love dramatic displays of force, and they hate California,” John Pitney Jr., a politics professor at Claremont McKenna College, told USA TODAY. “Progressive Democrats hate Trump. They’ve been leery of Newsom’s outreach to conservatives, and his recent statements shore up support on his left.”
But there are also political threats to both men if the protests drag on, which could make each look ineffective. The additional risk to Newsom’s presidential aspirations in 2028 is that other Democrats could come away looking more powerful, such as Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer or Maryland Gov. Wes Moore.
“Politically, at least, Newson is in the trickier spot here,” William Howell, a political scientist at the University of Chicago, told USA TODAY.
Trump campaign on immigration enforcement and has long criticized California
Trump and the GOP have long portrayed California as the epitome of bad governance. They’ve recently poured the blame on Newsom, who was first elected as governor to the nation’s most populous state in 2019 and now is in his second term. California’s high taxes, homeless problem and other issues have provided the GOP with political fodder for years.
“Donald Trump wants to portray California as the epitome of an America gone wrong,” said Sonoma State University political science professor David McCuan.
The clash between protesters who burned cars, threw rocks and shot fireworks at authorities plays into the GOP’s portrayal of California as chaotic. The situation revolves around an issue – undocumented immigration – where Trump believes he has a mandate from voters for mass deportations and strong border security.
“Illegal immigration was on top of voters’ minds across the country in 2024,” said Mark Bednar, a former senior House GOP leadership aide. “And it should shock no one that President Trump is working around the clock to address it.”
Newsome accuses Trump of political overreach
Newsom has condemned the violence, but the pressure from the GOP shows the difficult situation he’s in trying to criticize Trump’s actions as overreach while also maintaining order in his state.
“Newsom, meanwhile, has clear incentives to stand up to Trump and decry his autocratic excesses, which explains his vocal opposition,” said Howell from the University of Chicago. “But if he harbors national political ambitions, which he plainly does, then Newsom needs to avoid aligning himself with the most extreme members of the Democratic Party.”
Matt Lesenyie, a political science professor at California State University Long Beach political, said Newsom is at a “huge disadvantage” against Trump on this issue.
“A lot of people, not just Newsom, get hurt with Trump because they let him pick the fight,” Lesenyie said. “I think it’s too late for Newsom or (Los Angeles Mayor) Karen Bass… this is going to turn into a war of images.”
Surrogates fuel the political fires
The California confrontation has spread far beyond the state’s boundaries.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, told reporters June 10 that Newsom “ought to be tarred and feathered” for “standing in the way of the administration carrying out federal law.” In the Oval Office with Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Californians “should never elect him into a leadership position ever again.” Trump added: “The governor’s a nice guy but he’s grossly incompetent.”
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania, said in a social media post June 9 he stands for “free speech, peaceful demonstrations and immigration – but this is not that.”
“This is anarchy and true chaos,” he said. “My party loses the moral high ground when we refuse to condemn setting cars on fire, destroying buildings, and assaulting law enforcement.”
But other fellow Democrats have rallied to Newsom’s defense.
Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Senate subcommittee responsible for the Pentagon’s budget, said “warfighters are not political tools meant to patrol the streets of our own cities or to suppress the political views of their fellow Americans.”
“I trust local law enforcement, Mayor Bass, and Governor Newsom when they say that violence won’t be tolerated and that they are able to handle these protests without the military,” Coons said. “What President Trump is doing is not only unneeded. It has made the situation much worse.”
Those competing visions on how to handle the protests were on full display during a June 10 House hearing featuring Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who faced a question from Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-California, seeking justification for using the military for civilian law enforcement.
“Why are you sending warfighters to cities to interact with civilians?” Aguilar asked.
Hegseth replied that Trump “believes in law and order.’
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump, Newsom each find support and face risks in immigration debate
