Troops in LA: A Summer of Protests Gets Underway

ICE is reaping what they have sown

Shortly before he took off for New Jersey to sit next to Mike Tyson at a UFC fight on Sunday, President Trump signed an order authorizing the deployment of 2000 National Guard soldiers to Los Angeles. So begins an extended season of protest and government pushback.

The important thing you need to know about the ongoing protests in cities coast to coast in response to the government’s show of force immigration raids is that they have been overwhelmingly peaceful. Most conflicts with authorities have come as a result of attempts at civil disobedience, i.e., blocking ICE vehicles carrying detainees.

President Trump claimed at a Tuesday press conference that Newsom was responsible for a “lot of death” during protests. Zero people have been reported dead. Homeland Security Kristie Noem urged Californians not to re-elect Gavin Newsom, who is already term-limited. Don’t fall for the lies. Republican supporters are posting pictures of 2020 riots and claiming this is what’s happening in Los Angeles.

There can be no denying the incidents of property destruction that have taken place. Waymo vehicles on fire make for a better broadcast background than the mass line-dancing that occurred on the streets of LA. But that’s no excuse for compliant publications like Politico referring to protests generally as riots or disturbances.

These raids are being driven primarily by political considerations rather than the efficient deportation of large numbers of undocumented migrants. ICE has been conducting its most public workplace and community raids in predominantly blue cities and states. Untouched is the widespread use of undocumented migrant labor in rural states like Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem’s own state of South Dakota

Lots of people are understandably anxious about what is to come. The current situation, with costumed representatives of authority accosting and arresting people, is designed to create anxiety.

What the aggressors would like to happen is for us to feel overwhelmed, prompting either withdrawal or irrational outrage justifying crackdowns. Both reactions serve the same purposes, namely to legitimize oppression and/or to distract from the larger picture.

The government could have sent immigration personnel out to corral undocumented humans in cowboy hats and starred leather vests. Or they could have sent them out dressed as Mormon missionaries. But they didn’t.

Starting with areas known for not voting Republican, ICE sent personnel out dressed in combat-style gear, with masked faces making them indistinguishable from imagined Latin-American terrorists.

This was a choice. It was deliberate. It was to distract from the moral bankruptcy of this arm of the law enforcement industrial complex. It was to distract from the budget proposal making all this use of force permanent. It was to make men without feelings pretend to feel powerful.

David Dayen of The American Prospect posted: “The correct way to connect the authoritarian presence in LA and the Big Beautiful Bill is that the bill gives the government the resources to do this in dozens of cities at once. So if you don't like what's happening in LA, it's coming to your town if the bill passes.”

There is only one proper way for people to respond, and it doesn’t take George Soros money or Che Guevarra instruction books to make it happen. Our response must remain loud, sustained, peaceful and overwhelming. To do otherwise is to violate the first rule in fighting tyranny: Never capitulate in advance.

People can turn distress and anxiety into motivation, focus, and energy by becoming better informed; to know and understand the risks as well as the vulnerabilities of the regime, the better we will be able to process information and direct it to better use.

The Trump regime has called for an additional 2000 National Guard personnel for Los Angeles, to maintain the illusion of a situation out of control. Actual unrest (translation: people fighting back physically) has been limited to small areas of the city.

California employs more than 75,000 uniformed law-enforcement personnel with arrest powers. The Los Angeles Police Department alone has nearly 9,000 uniformed officers. Should the 75,000 uniformed personnel feel overmatched, Gov Newsom could request federal help, except that the Trump administration has been reluctant to aid Blue state authorities.

And if you think this is a Los Angeles or California problem, the memo federalizing the guard states an intention of bringing in troops wherever there are anti-ICE protests, saying they will do so “where protests against [federal] functions are occurring or likely to occur….”

In California, things weren’t so great for the first wave of weekend warriors, as the deployment was authorized sans arrangements for food, water, fuel, equipment, or lodging. The San Francisco Chronicle ran photos of “wildly underprepared” troops sleeping in their clothes on a cement floor. ‘

Two things to keep in mind about all this invocation of military forces.

It’s a spectacle. That’s why “Dr. Phil” was embedded with the first wave of guard personnel. The TV charlatan has already posted an interview with Tom Homan saying the Los Angeles raid was related to “money laundering investigations” related to “drug cartels”. Cough, cough.

That’s why Tom Holman, the angry face of immigration enforcement media interviews, talked about (and walked back) arresting Gov. Newsom and Mayor Bass. That’s why Kristie Noem gets to cosplay as a soldier for the cameras.

Trump thinks this crackdown will win voters back who’ve been disappointed with the administration thus far, and, as mentioned earlier it gets other things like the unpleasantness of the Big Beautiful Budget Bill and/or the slap fight with Elon Musk out of the headlines.

It’s illegal and yet another attempt to expand the authority of the executive branch. Trump is claiming authority under Title 10 of the United States Code to federalize members of the California National Guard because of a claimed threat of a “rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.” Title 10 allows for troops to protect federal property. Period.

He does not yet have the right to deploy those troops for general law enforcement. That’s because of another law, the Posse Comitatus Act, which generally forbids the use of the military as civilian law enforcement.

In the back of my mind, Trump’s saving this announcement for his Big Boastful Birthday speech at the military parade in DC on June 14. Yesterday, the Army shared a video on social media of a tank transporter festooned with graffiti reading “Hang Fauci & Bill Gates.” Hoo, Boy.

It’s one thing to have “authority,” it’s another to use it. The next election, however, is another matter.

With Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in charge, we can be assured that military interventions will be haphazard and poorly planned. NBC News reports the Defense Department is struggling to find candidates for all the staff positions vacated by recent firings. Posts normally considered prestigious and typically attracting multiple candidates remain unfilled, with at least three people having turned down the roles.

This is not to say possible repression will be impossible, but it’s hard to be effective when you’ve got a boss with his head up his ass. The main thing to remember, as our own forces did against the British, is to be where they are not not.

New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie:

• I personally do not think the administration is actually prepared for what happens if they are facing mass protests in every major city in the country.

• I simply do not understand those of you who look at the White House and say to yourselves, “these are hyper competent people who are executing a sophisticated plan with high odds for success”

• What i see is a White House whose ambitions outstrip its resources, who did not count on facing mass resistance, and which is scrambling to escalate the situation in hopes that a display of force will make people shut up

There may be merit to columnist David Frum thoughts, writing at The Atlantic:

• Since Trump’s return to the presidency in January, many political observers have puzzled over a seeming paradox. On the one hand, Trump keeps doing corrupt and illegal things. If and when his party loses its majorities in Congress—and thus the ability to protect Trump from investigation and accountability—he will likely face severe legal danger. On the other hand, Trump is doing extreme and unpopular things that seem certain to doom his party’s majorities in the 2026 elections. Doesn’t Trump know that the midterms are coming? Why isn’t he more worried?

• This weekend’s events suggest an answer. Trump knows full well that the midterms are coming. He is worried. But he might already be testing ways to protect himself that could end in subverting those elections’ integrity. So far, the results must be gratifying to him—and deeply ominous to anyone who hopes to preserve free and fair elections in the United States under this corrupt, authoritarian, and lawless presidency.

We are not powerless. In addition to sustained, peaceful, and creative protests, building community amongst our networks, believing that good can and should triumph, we shouldn’t forget that the authoritarian urge to decimate democracy is a power grab for self enrichment.

Fossil fuel billionaires are bankrolling the anti-trans movement by Yessenia Funes at HEATED in collaboration with Atmos

• On May 20, the right-wing organization ADF sued Minnesota over its advocacy for trans rights. ADF argues that allowing trans girls and women in women’s sports discriminates against cis girls and women. ADF, a Project 2025 adviser, has been at the helm of several anti-trans initiatives, its lawyers authoring model bathroom bills that would force trans people into the bathrooms of their assigned sex at birth. In 2025, lawmakers have already passed more than 100 anti-trans bills across the U.S., including 13 bathroom bills.

• But where is ADF getting money for its anti-trans advocacy? These days, it's almost impossible to tell due to regulations that allow nonprofits to hide their donors, but one verifiable source is the fossil fuel industry. Between 2013 and 2022, Shell USA Company Foundation donated $58,002 to ADF, per an investigation by the Guardian. Phil Anschutz, a billionaire who built his wealth on fossil fuels and now owns Anschutz Entertainment Group, Inc., which puts on live entertainment events like Coachella, also donated $110,000 to ADF between 2011 and 2013.

• ADF isn’t the only anti-trans organization with financial ties to the fossil fuel sector. An independent analysis of 45 right-wing groups advocating against trans rights found that 80% have received donations from fossil fuel companies or billionaires. The analysis, conducted by two independent researchers in 2023 and not peer-reviewed, was shared exclusively with Atmos and HEATED. Through a qualitative search, the researchers identified 45 groups advancing anti-trans lobbying, events, and publications and checked reports about their donor disclosures for fossil fuel funding.

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The Bleach Community Is Ready for RFK Jr. to Make Their Dreams Come True by David Gilbert at Wired

• While Kennedy has a long history of promoting anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, he has not explicitly promoted chlorine dioxide as a treatment. However, in January, during his Senate confirmation hearing, he referenced chlorine dioxide while praising Trump for “looking at all of the different remedies” for Covid, using it as an example of the open-mindedness that Kennedy characterized as a “demonstration of leadership.”

• Since Kennedy mentioned chlorine dioxide, groups dedicated to chlorine dioxide use on platforms like Telegram and Facebook are filled with new members and increased activity. (Telegram did not respond to a request for comment; Meta said it was reviewing the groups WIRED flagged and would remove any it determines violate the company’s policies.) Activists who have spent years fighting to highlight the dangers of chlorine dioxide are now deeply concerned that the Trump administration could seek to approve its use as a cure for a wide variety of ills.

• “The bleachers are back, making connections with powerful people, reaching RFK and Trump,” says Fiona O’Leary, an Ireland-based activist who has autistic children and has spent years trying to highlight the dangers of toxic bleach solutions being sold as an autism cure. “Bleachers want RFK to approve chlorine dioxide as a treatment for autism, cancer, and other conditions. It is like watching a horror show.”

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Star Trek Coincidence? Reminder: It’s only a year later/Different city