resident Donald Trump ordered active-duty US Marines and 2,000 more National Guard troops into Los Angeles late on Monday, vowing those protesting immigration arrests would be “hit harder” than ever.
Trump’s extraordinary mobilisation of 700 full-time professional military personnel – and thousands of National Guard troops – came on the fourth day of street protests triggered by dozens of immigration arrests in a city with huge foreign-born and Latino populations.
California Governor Gavin Newsom slammed the move, posting on X that US Marines “shouldn’t be deployed on American soil facing their own countrymen to fulfill the deranged fantasy of a dictatorial President. This is un-American.”
Throughout the day, President Trump and California Governor Gavin Newsom have been exchanging jabs through their social media accounts.
Here’s a breakdown of the things they’ve said to and about each other:
Trump calls Newsom “incompetent”
In a post to his Truth Social account, Trump says LA would be “obliterated” without him.
“The very incompetent “Governor,” Gavin Newscum, and “Mayor,” Karen Bass, should be saying, “THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP, YOU ARE SO WONDERFUL. WE WOULD BE NOTHING WITHOUT YOU, SIR.””
Newsom hits back after Trump calls for his arrest
Trump told reporters he thought it would be “great” if Newsom was arrested.
Newsom responded on social media, calling it an “unmistakable step toward authoritarianism”.
Earlier, when Trump border czar Tom Homan threatened the same thing, Newsom didn’t mince his words: “Arrest me,” he said. “Let’s get it over, tough guy.”
“If they spit, we will hit”
Trump accused Newsom of inspiring the riots and spitting in the faces of the National Guard.
“I promise you they will be hit harder than they have ever been hit before,” he said in a Truth Social post.
Newsom says Trump is acting like a dictator
In a post on X, Newsom says Trump’s activation of Marines in LA is a “deranged fantasy”.
He continued by saying Trump is a “dictatorial president. This is un-American.”
Newsom tells Trump to ‘grow up’
Newsom used the words to caption an interview clip in which he said Trump should, “Arrest me. Get it over with”.
On Saturday, Trump’s border tsar, Tom Homan, threatened to arrest individuals who obstruct the immigration enforcement effort.
