California Leads Resistance as Trump Sends Troops Into American Cities

[This column was reported for Political Breakdown, a bimonthly newsletter offering analysis and context on Bay Area and California political news. Click here to subscribe.]

It’s a threat President Trump has made before: He first publicly mused about using military troops to quell civilian protests in 2020, during his first term, when demonstrations roiled the nation after Minneapolis police killed George Floyd.

He didn’t send troops across the country, but did dispatch National Guard troops from 11 states to Washington, D.C., where they controversially helped clear protesters from Lafayette Square ahead of a presidential photo-op in front of a church. (An investigation later found that the park police and Guard members decided to disperse the crowd — using tear gas — independently of the president’s plans.)

It’s important to note that Washington, D.C., unlike cities in sovereign states, falls under greater federal control — the president commands the D.C. National Guard. Still, even before Trump’s reelection, pro-democracy experts saw the threats to use troops against civilians as part of a troubling pattern of authoritarian tendencies.

Things escalated in June, when Trump sent troops to L.A.: Trump said he was responding to “out-of-control” immigration protests when he seized control of the California National Guard from Gov. Gavin Newsom and deployed Guard members — and eventually 700 U.S. Marines — to the nation’s second largest city. State and local officials disputed that the protests were beyond their control and quickly sued, asking a court to remove the troops from the streets. While the state has had success in a district court, an appeals court halted the lower judge’s order to remove the troops.

After a three-day trial in August, a judge ruled in favor of California, ruling that Trump had violated federal law and ordering him to stop using troops for policing, but an appeals court paused that decision. The case is still pending and is expected to be heard by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals later this month.

But in general, some judges have appeared reticent to second-guess the president’s authority on an issue related to national security.

First Washington, D.C., then an escalation with Oregon and Illinois: Trump argued that he needed troops in D.C. to combat crime — a rationale that shifted as he began sending forces to Portland and Chicago. He has claimed the troops are needed to protect immigration facilities and agents from protesters, though he often conflates crime and immigration enforcement.

The deployments have turned into a partisan showdown between blue states and red states, now playing out in multiple courts. California joined Oregon’s lawsuit after Trump tried to send California Guard members to Portland, successfully securing a temporary order blocking that deployment. Chicago and Illinois were not successful. Both cases are moving through appeals court.

Both cases are moving through appeals courts.

Republicans and Democrats are telling starkly different stories and military experts are concerned. The Trump administration insists the deployments are about public safety and the rule of law. On Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said ICE facilities in Portland had been “under siege by these anarchists” for months and accused protesters of inciting violence.

Democrats, including California Attorney General Rob Bonta, see Trump’s moves as a precursor to potentially more frightening uses of the military.

“Trump does think that the military is his personal police force and his personal army. And he wants that force behind his policy decisions,” Bonta said. “He wants to weaponize the military against blue states and blue cities…. he’s also, I think, socializing the idea of the military in American cities.”

Newsom and other Democrats have warned that Trump may use the troops to intimidate voters in blue states and to suppress the vote in November’s special election and beyond.

Bonta, though, said that the U.S. “is a nation that will never accept military rule.” And some former military leaders are speaking out. Retired Gen. Randy Manner, who will join Political Breakdown on Thursday, has warned that the president’s actions risk driving a wedge between the armed forces and the public.