There are several important things to keep in mind in relation to Donald Trump and Los Angeles.
First of all, Los Angeles is what is called a “sanctuary city” – as is my hometown of Chicago and my second hometown, New York City. These are cities that do not conduct immigration raids, nor do they conform to the latest missive from Immigration, Customs and Enforcement. Second is that Trump detests LA, just as he does NYC and Chicago. These are bastions not only of the Democratic Party, but also of those who detest the Republican Party, and especially its latest iteration under Donald J Trump.
For a man who has been on American TV for decades in one incarnation or another, and who possesses that level of narcissism, to be loathed by the country’s major cities and media outlets is a low blow. And remember: coming down that escalator during his first campaign for Potus, he called immigrants “by and large rapists” – that is those capable of rape. We can assume that everyone is an aider and abettor.
He, and especially his special adviser, Stephen Miller, believe that immigrants – especially from what used to be called “The Third World” – are less than human. Miller’s anti-immigrant stance must make his own Yiddish-speaking ancestor turn in her grave and Trump’s Bavarian roots shake a bit.
But this is neither here nor there in Maga world. His supporters turned out in their droves to return “The Donald” to the Oval Office for a second time – allowing him to continue his spree in defying the constitution he swore to uphold.
In other words, he is the president of a body of small sovereign nations which elected him to the post of running and protecting the federal government. Not to deploy the US Marines.
The Potus is not elected by the general vote, because if that were true, Hillary Clinton would have entered the White House. She beat him in that area. Trump was instead elected by the Electoral College, the number of votes assigned to each state. Trump won that. Twice.
The states have enormous constitutional power, much of which has been ceded to the executive branch over the decades. The national guard of each state is under the command of its governor. The president of the United States does not usually interfere with the national guard. The last time this was done was during the civil rights movement in the 1960s, when Lyndon Baines Johnson federalised the national guard in the south to ensure adherence to civil rights legislation.
Donald Trump has no legal authority to nationalise the national guard if the governor does not want him to do so. He is also prohibited from sending the United States military onto American soil under The Posse Comitatus Act.
The title of the act comes from the legal concept – a concept under which a sheriff can conscript anyone to enforce the peace. This idea was thrown out in 1878.
Trump believes, nevertheless, that he can override this and do as he pleases. It may take the Supreme Court – packed with conservatives and two genuine Trump-enablers – to sort this one out.
The other thing to keep in mind is that the people who voted for Donald Trump voted for this: vigorous elimination of what they see as illegal immigration. First Amendment rights in relation to the protesters be damned. “Habeas corpus” – the right of a person to face their accusers and a bedrock of the American jurisprudence system – can go away, too.
Trump feels mandated to do what he’s doing and will continue to do so. It will not stop the peaceful protests, protected under the First Amendment, nor a state’s right not to have federal mobilisation on its soil.
Will the governor of California, Gavin Newsom – a Democrat and a potential rival of Donald Trump (don’t count Trump out of trying for a third term, even though the Constitution bans him) – be placed under arrest by the guy enforcing the arrest of fruit vendors at gunpoint – a meatball named Tom Homan – who threatens to put the media-friendly governor in cuffs?
Donald Trump, who has been on US television screens for over three decades, did not survive by not knowing what the people want. Even down to the possibility that a US Marine may be deployed in his or her own neighbourhood.
