The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, delivered a scathing speech on Tuesday night that pointed to the federalization of the National Guard of President Donald Trump of the National Guard and the use of Marines to quell the protests in Los Angeles.
Newsom, a Democrat who is considered a potential presidential candidate of 2028, criticized Trump’s immigration application tactics in comments designed for a national audience after days of confrontations between protesters and forces of the order.
“This is all of us. It is you. California can be the first, but it will not end here. Other states are the following. Democracy is the following. Democracy is under assault before our eyes. This moment we have feared has arrived,” said Newsom.
“Authoritarian regimes begin by attacking people who can defend themselves. But they don’t stop there,” he said.
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Trump has activated thousands of members of the National Guard, without a Newsom request, and deployed more than 700 Marines in California since the protests began on Friday.
He has also launched a flood of personal criticism and insults in Newsom, at one time, which suggests that he should face the arrest after he dared “Border Tsar” to Tom Homan to stop him.
“I would do it if it were Tom,” Trump told reporters on Monday, calling Newsom “very incompetent.”
In his speech on Tuesday, Newsom argued that Trump has a history of supporting violence when it suits him.
“Trump and their loyal ones, prosper in the division because it allows them to take more power and exercise even more control. And, by the way, Trump, does not oppose illegality and violence, as long as it serves him,” said Newsom, citing on January 6, 2021, disturbances in the Capitol of the United States.
“The rule of law has given ways more and more to Don’s rule,” he added.
The White House did not immediately respond to a comment request on Tuesday night.
Los Angeles police chief Jim McDonnell said on Tuesday there have been “several consecutive days of growing disturbances throughout the city”, with 378 people arrested since Saturday. A curfew in the center of Los Angeles entered into force on Tuesday night.
The protests have also developed in other cities throughout the country, with demonstrations that oppose immigration policies and deportation efforts of the Trump administration in New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas and Atlanta.
