In California, Words Aren't Enough
Action, Not Speeches and Lawsuits, Is Essential
Pity the weary Angeleno. The Santa Ana winds blew out, leaving widespread destruction in their wake. Now, Hurricane Donald has blown in, bringing confusion, chaos, and anger with him.
ICE, ICE Crazy
The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been rounding up and arresting undocumented migrants almost since Trump returned to office in January. Nameless, faceless officers are operating without warrants, not bothering to check the status (or identity) of those they’re detaining, and shipping them to El Salvador or South Sudan. The nature of the operations is meant to instill fear in migrants and citizens alike. It’s working.
ICE’s arrival in Los Angeles should have come as no surprise.
Training Day
The Los Angeles Police Department has a long, storied, and often-ugly history. Called out in riot gear to ‘quell’ what, pound for pound was a rather small demonstration, individual officers used citizens, protestors and journalists for target practice. In one clip, a man with a phone talked to an officer, finally receiving two 40mm cartridges to the crotch for his trouble.
Why were the cops kitted out in their full riot suits? Why not in regular uniform with batons and shields? Why aggravate and escalate a situation that was messy but all things considered, mostly peaceful as angry residents expressed their right to assemble and redress their greivances.
Federalizing the National Guard
It is not unusual for the National Guard to be called in to assist local authorities in times of emergency. They were called out during the 1992 LA Riots, for example. They are not usually federalized, ie, coming under active military authority, without a request from the state’s governor.
Donald Trump, never afraid to break with tradition, federalized and activated 4,000 members of the California National Guard.
As I said in a video I posted on Monday, Governor Gavin Newsom should have countermanded the order and told the Adjutant General to keep the forces away. Lawyers and veterans are now screaming at me through their screens. I know the law says the president can do this.
However, if we believe that the Trump Administration has routinely thrown over the rule of law, why are we playing his game? California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed suit in federal court asking a judge to issue an emergency injunction to reverse the order, claiming it was an illegal act.
Shock of shocks, the San Francisco Chronicle reported the Feds didn’t have a plan to deploy or house members of the Guard, and posted pictures of troops sleeping on the floor of a warehouse. Even the LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said the Guard was unhelpful. Send them home!
If Trump isn’t following the law, why are we still expecting the law to save us? If we’ve crossed the Rubicon, our feet are already wet.
29 Palms, Send Them Back Down the Road
Claiming that Los Angeles was collapsing in on itself, the Trump Administration ordered 700 Marines from their training base in 29 Palms, waaaayyyy out in the Mojave Desert. Aside from the posse comitatus implications of combat troops on American soil, soldiers (and Marines) historically neither like, nor are good at, law enforcement operations.
In Riverside County, buses carrying the troops were escorted by sheriff’s deputies* and made their way toward Orange County, finally stopping in Seal Beach, the last town before you hit the LA county line on Pacific Coast Highway.
*The Sheriff of Riverside County, Chad Bianco, a Republican, is running for governor.
Newsom should deploy his own members of the Guard and the California Highway Patrol to block the highways and roads to prevent the Marines from entering Los Angeles proper. When I suggested this idea to a retired judge she recoiled in horror. “They could arrest Newsom for that.”
EXACTLY.
TACO Time
Trump Always Backs Down. It’s an accurate acronym. Trump hates confrontation. He’s backed down from trouble repeatedly once he’s generated a headline, delivered the dopamine to his base, and glowed in liberal outrage.
If faced with legitimate, tangible obstacles in Southern California, there’s a good chance Trump and Pete Hegseth will the Marines just hang out for a few days outside the city and sent them back out to the desert under cover of darkness. (As of this writing it was difficult to ascertain whether the battalion had moved into the city proper.)
If there’s a redline, spray paint it on the pavement and take not one step back. If you’re not serious about opposition and resistance, step aside and let someone more willing step up.
Less Words, More Action
Democrats, as I’ve written, are scared to death of utilizing the power they possess. What if someone gets upset? Screw that. We’ve crossed that bridge and burned it behind us. The men and women who are protesting, be it against ICE or in opposition to the administration, are putting themselves on the line. Anyone who wants to be considered for leadership must utilize the tools at their disposal when facing a planned and predictable provocation.
If Newsom wants to be seen as a leader of the resistance, he must do more than give speeches, talk to friendly podcasts, and file lawsuits.
Words Do Matter, Though
What we’re witnessing this week is unusual, and in some cases unprecedented. But those newly-minted civil disturbance experts in the Stackosphere should exercise restraint in their descriptions of what’s happening.
The good folks over at Zeteo, who I respect a great deal even when I don’t agree with them sent out a note with the headline, “Fallujah on the Pacific.”
Always looking for other views, I sent the post to my friend Dan Barkhuff, retired Navy SEAL and veteran of many combat deployments. He texted back, “Let me know when stray dogs are eating dead bodies.”
Hyperbole may feel good and it may generate extra clicks and subscriptions. It’s also counterproductive. Exaggeration isn’t necessary when a straight recitation of the facts will suffice. Tell the stories, talk to the demonstrators, show the pictures, share the videos of cops shooting people with teargas, rubber bullets, and pepper balls.
As the great Hal Holbrook said in All the President’s Men, “If you shoot to high and miss, everyone feels more comfortable.”
The Beginning of the Beginning
Given the volume, velocity and acceleration of daily news, it’s easy to forget we’re just five months into Trump’s term. We have three and a half years to go. Our job now is to plan, to strategize, and to think about what is likely to happen next, to organize resistance to illegal, extra-legal and anti-constitutional acts, and to band together as the administration attempts to further atomize us. We must keep our heads cool as those around us lose theirs.
None of this is easy. It was never going to be. Perhaps our fellow citizens are waking from their slumber. Their awakening will not be fast, satisfying or total, but it is beginning. Let’s give them examples to emulate and leaders to follow. Let’s be the people we hoped we’d have been in other times of crisis and great consequence.
As a lifelong Democrat (who married a sane, now former, Republican), I find that the voices I appreciate most right now are those of former Republicans. You live with the pain of watching a party you loved self-destruct, and you call out the insanity with a degree of clarity that most (though not all) Democrats have not yet found. Thank you! You motivate me to continue my activism, even when I feel exhausted. I know that all of you who are in prominent positions are risking a lot. The least the rest of us can do is risk a little.
Lots of why questions, such as why the local police showed up in combat gear? Why ICE is in combat gear and masked? Are they afraid of their fellow unarmed citizens? Must be cowards all. It has been 140 days into this Presidency, and it feels like a hundred years of stupidly, chaos, and lack of leadership. Sometimes I feel like I and we are shouting into the wind but shout we must. Trying to do what I can and not falter in the trying. Thanks Reed. Take care.