California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) warned in a primetime address Tuesday amid President Donald Trump’s military response to the Los Angeles protests that this “assault” on democracy will spread across the country if Trump continues to go unchecked.
“Look, this isn’t just about protests here in Los Angeles,” he said. “When Donald Trump sought blanket authority to commandeer the National Guard, he made that order apply to every state. This is about all of us. California may be first, but it clearly will not end here.”
He continued, “Other states are next. Democracy is next.”
Newsom’s televised address came on the fifth day of protests against federal immigration raids in Los Angeles.
Trump has activated more than 4,000 National Guard members and 700 U.S. Marines, who were originally deployed to protect federal buildings from potential damage or destruction.
He has done so over the objections of city and state leaders, including L.A. Mayor Karen Bass (D), who told the Los Angeles Times on Sunday that she “tried to talk to the administration” to keep troops out, as protests over the weekend “were relatively minor.”
“Trump is pulling a military dragnet all across Los Angeles,” said Newsom in his address. “Well beyond his stated intent to just go after violent and serious criminals, his agents are arresting dishwashers, gardeners, day laborers and seamstresses.”
The governor went on to condemn Trump as “a president who wants to be bound by no law or constitution,” warning viewers that America’s legal norms and traditions are at risk of being permanently dismantled, and that “this moment we have feared has arrived.”
California Governor’s Office/Associated Press
Newsom sued the administration Monday, accusing Trump of “unprecedented usurpation of state authority and resources” by taking over the state’s National Guard troops, and filed for an emergency order Tuesday to block the “unlawful militarization of Los Angeles.”
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer scheduled a hearing on the order for Thursday.
“Authoritarian regimes begin by targeting people who are least able to defend themselves,” Newsom said Tuesday. “But they do not stop there. Trump and his loyalists, they thrive on division, because it allows them to take more power and exert even more control.”
Newsom further slammed Trump in his address for ordering the military “to put on a vulgar display to celebrate his birthday” with a parade this Saturday, which is meant to celebrate the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary, and likened his decision to those of “other failed dictators.”
