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The fight between President Trump and the California governor, Los Angeles’ unrest hit new heights on Monday, saying that Trump will support the arrest of one of the nation’s top Democrats and a presidential candidate in 2028.
The escalation of protests in the angel city against migrant and customs enforcement attacks brought the two leaders together amid a clash with Trump’s clear political opportunity and newspaper risks.
For Trump, California provides reliable foil as it actively pushes the crackdown on immigrants. Images of a man in a car and mask waving a Mexican flag form the perfect backdrop for the “law and order” message that the Trump White House imposed on the country.
And the image is the weapon Democrats use in Trump’s argument that they are too soft to keep cities safe from violent unrest.
Newsom also has the opportunity. Because the fight provides an opportunity for prominent Democrats to stand up to Trump in a way that is liberal grassroots.
“The US President called for the arrest of the sitting governor, a day I wanted him not to see in America,” Newsmom posted on social platform X shortly after Trump’s comments about his arrest.
“I don’t care if you’re a Democrat or a Republican. This is a line we cannot cross as a nation. This is an unmistakable step into authoritarianism.”
But Newsom has a clear risk if voters view him as too soft to those committing criminal acts in Los Angeles. Team Trump pushed the argument Monday that he can’t trust the peace after California leaders and other Democrats said he would sue the administration over his decision to send the National Guard to LA without the approval of local officials.
“Gavin Newsom’s reckless leadership is directly responsible for the lawless riots and violent attacks against law enforcement in Los Angeles. Instead of filing an unfounded lawsuit aimed at scoring political points at left-wing bases, Newsom focuses on protecting Americans by restoring law and order in his state.
If there is a Trump risk, it could probably be something familiar to both parties’ past presidents: overreach.
Trump has begun the week since President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965 as the first US president to send the National Guard to the state without local authorization. At the end of the week, Trump is set to hold a full military parade.
Both decisions are debates leaning towards Monday, forcing the democratic narrative that he is a dangerous president with authoritarian impulses.
“This is a real battle for both parties,” said one Democratic strategist before resorting to the president’s potential risks.
“Trump thinks this will help him politically, and he’s a little right, but he tends to start over,” the strategist said.
Meanwhile, the strategist said, “I am trying to balance this kind of reshaping of his public narrative of not being the average liberal in San Francisco. He is trying to position himself as a liberal of the nation. Shaking some of that image is trying to show a stiff upper lip in these circumstances.”
Trump and Newsom have been political rivals for years, with dynamic upset between intense criticism and occasional displays of consensus.
Even on Monday, Trump called the “nice guy” he liked before adding that Californians were “sorryly incompetent.”
Newsom praised Trump during times of crisis, including early in the coronavirus pandemic and the natural disasters that affected his nation. The two men had a friendly exchange at the tarmac when Trump visited California to tour the wildfire damage in January, and Trump held Newsom at the White House in February.
However, their dynamics are marked more frequently by hostility.
Trump and his allies have long portrayed California as a symbol of all the mistakes of liberal governance, pointing to issues relating to high taxes, government regulations, and homelessness and immigration. Trump frequently denounced the governor as a “news come” and threatened to withhold federal funds from the state.
Newsom used his perch as governor of the country’s most populous nation to actively criticize Trump and his policies. Democrats and Republicans viewed the emergence of Newsom as setting their own White House bids during the Biden administration.
Julian Zelizer, a professor of public relations and history at Princeton University, said the current situation in Los Angeles is a perfect storm for the newspaper.
“He has a real policy crisis in his hands, a rapid escalation of tensions within Los Angeles and with the President. He is dealing with the serious issues of overexpansion of the president’s power,” Zelizer said.
“At the same time as the potential candidate for the President, everything is handled through a political prism. If the President looks back on this to him, he makes him look like a candidate who can’t protect law and order, that can be very damaging to his own political career.”
Trump on Monday did not rule out deploying the Marines to California, which would escalate the situation even further, but he showed things seemed to be cooling down.
“We see what happens. I think we’re controlling it very well. I think it was a very bad situation,” Trump said at the White House event. “And Gavin wants Gavin’s support as he is a big beneficiary, as he will straighten his issues.”
Garry South, a well-known Democratic strategist based in California, said the idea of sending troops to Golden State is dangerous.
“Newsom is doing the substantive and politically right by pushing back the militarization of Trump’s unprecedented domestic policy,” he said. “For a president to turn a president who will loosen the American people is a difficult moment for our democracy.
“Like everything Trump does, making him look like a tough guy to his Magazinebass by playing against California is everything for political gain, but another warning sign that if he’s been checked he can become Chile under Pinochet,” added South.
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