[ad_1]
A driverless Waymo car coated with graffiti and engulfed in flames. Mask protesters, dancing, hanging around burning American flags. The anonymous person boldly blocked the streets, locking major highways, rain bottles and rocks in police, and his compatriots waving Mexican flags.
Images leaking from Los Angeles in nearly a week’s protests over federal immigration attacks cast America’s second-most populous city as a horrifying hellish landscape.
With the relentless heat loop of online and broadcast videos, it doesn’t matter that most of our Los Angeles neighborhoods remain safe and secure. Digital images created a unique reality, used by President Trump and his supporters to accuse LA of “out of control” and on the brink of total collapse.
The image and its true meaning and context were the subject of fierce debate between the media and politicians, focusing on the true roots and victims of the protest. This exploded on Friday as the Trump administration moved aggressively to expand undocumented arrests of immigrants.
He is an advocate of law and order and American values, as the conservative media president and his supporters say it. They cast their enemies as dangerous foreign-born criminals and as their reckless enablers in the Democrats and mainstream media.
The national political leaders and journalists provide persuasive rebuttals. As he previously promised, Trump touched on days of protest and confusion in a criminally targeted attack, and escalated the conflict by taking the very extraordinary steps of sending the National Guard and Marines to Southern California.
Lynn Vavreck, a professor of political science at UCLA, said the response to the attacks by federal immigration and customs enforcement agents and subsequent confusion would divide Americans into highly predictable partisan boundaries that would be “calcified.”
“The parties want to build a very different world, and voters know that, and they know which world they want to live in,” said Vavreck, who focused on the country’s extreme political polarization. “And the parties are divided very evenly and this issue is very personal to so many people, so the interests are very high for people.”
1. Demonstrators waving the Mexican flag as a fire set in San Pedro Street Burns on Monday night. (Jason Armand/Los Angeles Times) 2. Protesters continue to clash with the Los Angeles Police Department in Downtown on Monday. (Jason Armand/Los Angeles Times) 3. Protesters continue to clash with the Los Angeles Police Department in downtown Los Angeles on Monday. (Jason Armand/Los Angeles Times) 4. Anti-Ice protesters will face off against LAPD on Temple Street on Monday. (Carlin Steel/Los Angeles Times) 5. Flowers lie at the feet of members of the federal California State Guard on Tuesday to protect federal buildings. (Jason Armand/Los Angeles Times)
With the curfew on Tuesday, the sharpest street conflict appears to be in decline, with national polls suggesting Americans have mixed feelings about the events dominating the news.
A YouGov survey of 4,231 people found that 39% disapproved of the Trump administration’s handling of deportation, compared to 50%. The plurality of the sampled people opposed Trump’s deployment of the National Guard and the US Marines into Southern California.
However, 45% of those surveyed by YouGov said they disapproved of the protests that began after recent immigration and customs enforcement measures. Another 36% approved the protest, with the rest not sure how they felt.
Faced with an intermediate public response to the ice attack and subsequent protests, Trump used extreme language to exaggerate the magnitude of public safety threats, continuing to trust the decline in hostilities as the week progressed.
In a post on his Truth Social Site, he proposed, without military intervention, “Los Angeles will be burning like it was burning months ago, all homes have been lost. Los Angeles will be burning now.”
The massive crowd is clenching fists with faith leaders outside a federal building in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday to protest immigrant raids.
(Jason Armand/Los Angeles Times)
The reality is that while Agitators have set multiple spot fires in several areas, including Downtown Los Angeles and Paramount, the recent flames have been small and quickly controlled, in contrast to the massive wildfires that devastated Southern California’s widespread Swass in January.
Trump’s exaggeration continued Tuesday with a fundraising appeal to his supporters. In it, he praised his decision to deploy the National Guard again (without the approval of California government Gavin Newsom). “If they didn’t, Los Angeles would have completely disappeared.”
Republicans helped to promote anxiety.
His colleagues in Congress introduced a resolution officially condemning the riots. “Congress will step in amid the “out-of-control” Los Angeles riots as Democrats resist the help of the federal government,” Fox News reported on the resolution, led by Orange County Rep. Young Kim.
A New Delhi-based journalist declared that Los Angeles “is descending into a full-fledged Warzone” based on unspecified evidence.
Veterans Secretary Douglas Collins suggested the harm from protesters was spreading. A social media post announced that a veterinary care center in downtown LA had been temporarily closed.
“Supporting illegal immigrants and against the rule of law, to the violent riots of Los Angeles riots,” his post to X said, “Your actions are hindering the health care of veterans.”
Running in the commentary for Fox News, Chyron suggests that “Democrats have lost their minds,” as evidenced by their attempts to downplay the anti-ice riots.
Many Angelenos laughed at the claims of a widespread public safety crisis. One of X posted a photo of the dog for a walk along the neatly stored sidewalk in the calm neighborhood.
Federal officers and the National Guard will protect a federal building in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday in protests from protesters.
(Jason Armand/Los Angeles Times)
In stark contrast to photos of police cars scattered in the burning of Waymo vehicles and rocks, the social media video showed a group of protesters’ linedances. “Oh my God! They must be stopped before their peaceful, joyful dance party spreads in the cities near you!” caption read. “Send the Marines before they start Chacha and Macarena!”
And many people have said on social media that Sunday’s Pride Parade for the LGBTQ+ community in Hollywood has disappeared without a hitch.
However, other activists and Democrats signaled that they understand how Trump’s position can be strengthened if they appear to tolerate more extreme episodes that emerged with the protest.
On Tuesday, X’s post by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass reiterated her previous warning. “Let me be clear: Anyone who destroys downtown or looted shops doesn’t care about the immigrant community,” the mayor wrote. “You’ll be responsible.”
The activist group has posted an online message urging the Democrats to occupy the Democrats and show protesters a bit of a daring to violence and property damage.
“At the moment violence or damage to property begins, all other protesters must immediately sit on the ground or in silence and lower the sign,” the advisory suggested. “The media needs to film this. This reveals a paid fake thug that expects protesters to become violent. … The rest of us will demonstrate our non-violent innocence and maintain our constitutional right to peaceful protest.”
Craig Silverman, a journalist and co-founder of Indicator, a site investigating deceptions on digital platforms, said reports on the context and true scope of the protest struggle to compete with visceral images broadcast in American homes.
“It’s inevitable that the most extreme and persuasive images will win the battle for attention on social media and television,” Silverman said in an email. “It is particularly difficult to provide context and facts when social platforms encourage the most shocking videos and claims. Federal and state officials provide conflicting messages about what’s going on.”
Dan Chenour, a political science teacher at USC and Berkeley, California, agreed. “The overwhelming majority of protesters are peace,” Schnoor said.
Protesters march in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday.
(Jason Armand/Los Angeles Times)
While it may be too early to assess the ultimate impact of the Lastest, Chenour suggested that all of the drama’s most notable politicians may have achieved messaging goals. By taking on Trump, Newsom “has effectively united the nation and raised his national profile.” And Bass got the opportunity to use Trump as foil under strict scrutiny of handling the city’s wildfire disaster.
What was not discussed was that Trump had little precedent in the rapid deployment of the National Guard without Newsom’s approval. And sending the Marines to LA is an even more extreme approach, with experts saying the challenges to deployment will test the limits of Trump’s power.
The Federal Rebellion Act allows the deployment of troops for law enforcement purposes, but only under certain conditions, such as national emergency.
California leaders say Trump will act before a real emergency occurs, leading to standard protocols that include curfews and mobilizations from other local police departments.
Even real estate developer Rick Caruso, Bus’ opponent in the last election, suggested Trump was acting too quickly.
“In Los Angeles there are no emergency, widespread threats, or out of control violence,” Caruso wrote on X Sunday. “And there is absolutely no risk of justifying the deployment of National Guard, military, or other federal forces into the streets of this or other Southern California city.”
“We have to ask for calm on the streets,” Caruso added.
[ad_2]Source link
