To suppress protests against his deportation agenda, President Donald Trump took an extraordinary action on Saturday by calling up 2,000 National Guard troops to tamp down demonstrations in California. In doing so, he exercised rarely used federal powers, bypassed the authority of the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, and set the stage for violent confrontation.

Newsom, a Democrat, said the soldiers were unneeded and would only “escalate tensions.”

Trump’s order came after protests broke out on Friday and continued through Saturday as federal agents searched Los Angeles’ garment district and other neighborhoods for undocumented immigrant workers. More protests are planned for Sunday afternoon.

Any demonstration impeding immigration law enforcement would be considered a “form of rebellion,” according to Trump.

“If Governor Gavin Newscum, of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, can’t do their jobs, which everyone knows they can’t, then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!” Trump posted to his Truth Social account, using his childish moniker for Newsom.

The Trump administration’s move to further insert the military into domestic political and law enforcement activities carries immense risk. Militarizing an already tense situation increases the likelihood of civilian harm, threatens to chill civil liberties and could irreparably damage civil-military relations.

The White House did not respond to questions about the potential for escalating tensions, worries about violence, or whether Trump would take personal responsibility for any resulting casualties.

The National Guard has, at times, been tapped to stifle dissent. In 2020, Trump requested that the governors of multiple states deploy their National Guard troops to Washington, D.C. to suppress protests after Minneapolis police killed George Floyd. Many governors agreed and thousands of troops from 11 states were deployed to Washington, D.C.

In 1992,

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