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Trump is provoking LA to fire up his base
By goading California’s protesters – and its leaders – to defy him, the President is mobilising Maga.
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Protestes waving Mexican and US flags face off with police during a protest in downtown Los Angeles, on June 9.
PHOTO: AFP
Harold Meyerson
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History sometimes needs a push. In sending his immigration police to disrupt Los Angeles, US President Donald Trump recognises this. He can now use the predictable backlash to seize more power.
Mr Trump’s administration already stands out historically for aggregating powers to itself that the US Constitution explicitly vests in Congress. The Constitution does empower the president to deploy the army domestically, but only if he declares the nation to be in a state of insurrection, as Abraham Lincoln did in the 1860s. The last time the Insurrection Act was invoked without a state governor’s consent was by Lyndon Johnson in 1965 to protect civil rights marchers in Alabama.
