US President Donald Trump is sending 700 Marines and thousands of National Guard troops to Los Angeles – escalating the battle for supremacy against Governor Newsom. Does Trump have the right to do so and what is his goal?
The conflict is clearly continuing to escalate – it has long since become more than just about the extradition of migrants. This is a personal battle between Donald Trump and California's Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom. And the main question is whether the US president has the right to send soldiers against civilians and what his real goal is, ARD comments.
The media recalls that upon his return to the White House, Trump called the protesters in Los Angeles “professional agitators and insurgents“, later adding: “Thank God we sent some great guardsmen there“.
The soldiers are not trained for actions against civilians
Trump sent the soldiers against the will of California Governor Gavin Newsom. Arkansas Republican Governor Tom Cotton defended the president's actions: “The legal basis is very clear”, he told Fox News: “The National Guard, which is traditionally subordinate to the governor of the respective state, can be placed under the personal command of the president to restore order and federal law“.
However, not everyone agrees. Massachusetts Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton said that the military is used only in extremely extreme situations. He added to CNN: “We are a democracy and the military should not be politicized by being sent against American citizens“.
A similar opinion is shared by Haymin Shamzi, an expert at the human rights organization American Civil Liberties Union. She emphasizes that the soldiers are not trained to act against civilian protesters and expresses the opinion that the president is trying to assert the right to send the military to other places in the country where people want to protest against the crackdowns of immigration authorities.
Diversion?
Criticism of Trump goes further. “All this is being done to distract from the failed actions of the Trump administration in other areas“, said California Democratic Senator Alex Padilla to CNN: “The tariffs are a big failure, there is no peace between Ukraine and Russia, Trump's budget law is also hanging. From all of this, an attempt is now being made to distract from the crisis that he created in Los Angeles“.
California Governor Gavin Newsom filed a complaint against the deployment of the National Guard. And Trump's own people are threatening to arrest Governor Newsom. If the elite US Marines sent to Los Angeles do actually go into action in the meantime, this will truly be a new escalation, ARD commented.
"We've never seen anything like this"
According to legal experts, if the president does use the Marines, this would completely exceed his constitutional powers. "Such an action is not necessary because the protests are by no means of this magnitude. There is no emergency or crisis as the president and his ministers are painting. We've never seen anything like this", Harvard expert Juliet Kayem told PBS.