LOS ANGELES — Calling President Donald Trump a threat to the American way of life, Gov. Gavin Newsom depicted the federal military intervention in Los Angeles as the onset of a much broader effort by Trump to overturn political and cultural norms at the heart of the nation’s democracy.
In a speech Tuesday evening, the potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate said the arrival of National Guard and Marine troops in the city at Trump's direction was not simply about quelling protests that followed a series of immigration raids by federal authorities. Instead, he said, it was part of a calculated “war” intended to upend the foundations of society and concentrate power in the White House.
“California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next,” a somber Newsom warned, seated before the U.S. and California flags. “Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes. This moment we have feared has arrived.”
As head of the heavily Democratic state known as the epicenter of the so-called Trump resistance, Newsom and the Republican president have long been adversaries. But the governor's speech delivered in prime time argued that Trump was not just a threat to democracy, but was actively working to break down its guardrails that reach back to the nation's founding.
″He’s declared a war. A war on culture, on history, on science, on knowledge itself," Newsom said. “He’s delegitimizing news organizations, and he’s assaulting the First Amendment.”
Newsom added that Trump is attacking law firms and the judicial branch — “the foundations of an orderly and civil society.”
“It’s time for all of us to stand up,” Newsom said, urging any protests to be peaceful. “What Donald Trump wants most is your fealty, your silence, to be complicit in this moment. Do not give in to him.”
His speech came the same day that Newsom asked a court to put an emergency stop to the military helping federal immigration agents, with some guardsmen now standing in protective gauntlet around agents as they carried out arrests. The judge chose not to rule immediately, giving the Trump administration several days to continue those activities before a hearing Thursday.
Trump has activated more than 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines over the objections of city and state leaders, though the Marines have not yet been spotted in Los Angeles and Guard troops have had limited engagement with protesters. They were originally deployed to protect federal buildings.
Newsom's speech capped several days of acidic exchanges between Trump and Newsom, that included the president appearing to endorse Newsom's arrest if he interfered with federal immigration enforcement. “I think it’s great. Gavin likes the publicity, but I think it would be a great thing,” Trump told reporters.
Over the years, Trump has threatened to intercede in California's long-running homeless crisis, vowed to withhold federal wildfire aid as political leverage in a dispute over water rights, called on police to shoot people robbing stores and warned residents that “your children are in danger” because of illegal immigration.
Trump relishes insulting the two-term governor and former San Francisco mayor — frequently referring to him as Gov. “New-scum” — and earlier this year faulted the governor for Southern California’s deadly wildfires.
Trump has argued that the city was in danger of being overrun by violent protesters, while Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass have called the federal intervention an unneeded — and potentially dangerous — overreaction.
The demonstrations have been mostly concentrated in the city's downtown hub. Demonstrations have spread to other cities in the state and nationwide, including Dallas and Austin, Texas, Chicago and New York City, where a thousand people rallied and multiple arrests were made.
Trump left open the possibility of invoking the Insurrection Act, which authorizes the president to deploy military forces inside the U.S. to suppress rebellion or domestic violence or to enforce the law in certain situations. It’s one of the most extreme emergency powers available to a U.S. president.
“If there’s an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it. We’ll see,” he said from the Oval Office.
