Donald Trump likes to show off his strongman credentials at cage fights and military parades — and over the weekend, the US president did it by sending troops into Los Angeles.
The move once again showed Trump pushing presidential power to its limits, at the start of a second term that has begun with what critics say is a distinctly authoritarian edge.
Trump deployed the National Guard after clashes sparked by immigration raids, marking the first time since 1965 that a president has done so without a request by a state governor.
His administration said Monday it was also sending 700 active-duty Marines to America’s second largest city.
The Republican has warned that troops could be sent “everywhere” — sparking fears that he will send the military out into the streets across America to crack down on protests and dissent.
“It’s a slippery slope,” William Banks, a law professor at Syracuse University, told AFP.
“If the president tries to do more, he’s cutting against the grain in the United States of a long history of leaving law enforcement to civilians.”
The protests in Los Angeles are in many ways the showdown that Trump has been waiting for.
Trump has been spoiling for a fight against California’s Democratic governor Gavin Newsom, and he is now doing so on his signature issue of immigration.
Newsom has bitterly accused the “dictatorial” president of manufacturing the crisis for political gain — while Trump suggested the governor, a potential 2028 presidential contender, could be arrested.
Democratic California senator Alex Padilla slammed what he called “the behavior of an authoritarian government.”
Rights groups have also opposed it. Hina Shamsi of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said in a statement that Trump’s response was “unnecessary, inflammatory, and an abuse of power.”
‘Civil war’
Trump said Monday that he does not “want a civil war” — but the situation is a golden opportunity to appear tough to his base.
Indeed, Trump has long cultivated a strongman image and has previously expressed admiration for authoritarian leaders like Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping.
This weekend, Trump will spend his 79th birthday watching tanks rumble through Washington at a parade to mark the 250th anniversary of the US army.
And the order to send the National Guard into Los Angeles came shortly before Trump attended a UFC fight in New Jersey — a sport he has used frequently to appeal to macho voters.
Critics however fear that Trump’s actions in Los Angeles are not just for show.
Since returning to office, Trump has repeatedly pushed the boundaries of presidential power to target the US bureaucracy, universities, law firms, cultural institutions and anywhere else he believes liberal ideologies linger.
Trump seemed to hint at what could come next when he pinned the blame for the Los Angeles unrest — without evidence — on “insurrectionists.”
It appeared to be a clear reference to the Insurrection Act, which would allow the military to be used as a domestic police force.
‘Look strong’
“Trump is pretty free and loose when it comes to the use of force,” Todd Belt, a political science professor at George Washington University, told AFP.
“He knows it is popular with his base, and he always likes to look strong in their eyes.”
Trump has talked for years about using the military against protests.
Although he did not do so during his first term, his former defense secretary Mark Esper said Trump asked why Black Lives Matter protesters could not be shot in the legs.
Conversely, Trump made no move to bring in the military when his own supporters attacked the US Capitol in a bid to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden.
Trump would not say if he would invoke the Insurrection Act when asked by reporters on Monday, but he and his advisors have been framing the issue in increasingly apocalyptic terms.
His top migration advisor Stephen Miller has explicitly framed the Los Angeles protests as a battle for the future of Western civilization against an “invasion” of migrants.
“The ‘war’ and ‘invasion’ framing have helped the administration make the case for the domestic use of these laws that are normally used to put down rebellions or invasions,” said Belt.
