On June 11, 2025, California Governor Gavin Newsom addressed not only President Donald Trump’s response to civil disorders in Los Angeles, but the threat he posed to California, every other state—and democracy itself.     

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Donald Trump, without consulting with California’s law enforcement leaders, commandeered 2,000 of our state’s National Guard members to deploy on our streets. Illegally, and for no reason. 

Donald Trump

This brazen abuse of power by a sitting President inflamed a combustible situation … putting our people, our officers, and the National Guard at risk. 

That’s when the downward spiral began.

He doubled down on his dangerous National Guard deployment by fanning the flames even harder. And the President did it on purpose. 

As the news spread throughout LA, anxiety for family and friends ramped up.

Protests started again. By night, several dozen lawbreakers became violent and destructive. They vandalized property. They tried to assault police officers.

Many of you have seen video clips of cars burning on cable news. If you incite violence or destroy our communities, you are going to be held accountable. That kind of criminal behavior will not be tolerated.

Full stop. Already, more than 370 people have been arrested. And we’re reviewing tapes to build additional cases, and people will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Again, thanks to our law enforcement officers and the majority of Angelenos who protested peacefully, this situation was winding down and was concentrated in just a few square blocks downtown.

But that’s not what Donald Trump wanted. He again chose escalation; he chose more force. He chose theatrics over public safety – he federalized another 2,000 Guard members. He deployed more than 700 active U.S. Marines.

These are men and women trained in foreign combat, not domestic law enforcement.

Trump is pulling a military dragnet across LA, well beyond his stated intent to just go after violent and serious criminals. His agents are arresting dishwashers, gardeners, day laborers and seamstresses.  

That’s just weakness. Weakness, masquerading as strength.

Donald Trump’s government isn’t protecting our communities – they are traumatizing our communities. And that seems to be the point.

California will keep fighting on behalf of our people – all of our people – including in the courts. Yesterday, we filed a legal challenge to President Trump’s reckless deployment of American troops to a major American city.

Authoritarian regimes begin by targeting people who are least able to defend themselves. But they do not stop there. Trump and his loyalists thrive on division because it allows them to take more power and exert even more control.

By the way, Trump – he’s not opposed to lawlessness and violence, as long as it serves HIM. What more evidence do we need than January 6th?

I ask everyone to take the time to reflect on this perilous moment. A president who wants to be bound by no law or constitution. Perpetrating a unified assault on American traditions.

Gavin Newsom

This is a President who, in just over 140 days, has fired government watchdogs that could hold him accountable for corruption and fraud. He’s declared a war on culture, on history, on science – on knowledge itself. Databases, quite literally vanishing.

He’s delegitimizing news organizations and assaulting the First Amendment. At the threat of defunding them, he’s dictating what universities can teach. Targeting law firms and the judicial branch that are the foundation of an orderly, civil society.

Calling for a sitting Governor [Newsom himself] to be arrested for no other reason than – to use his words – “for getting elected.” 

Look, this isn’t just about protests in LA. When Donald Trump sought blanket authority to commandeer the National Guard, he made that order apply to every state in this nation. This is about all of us. This is about you.

California may be first – but it clearly won’t end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next.

Democracy is under assault right before our eyes – the moment we’ve feared has arrived. He’s taking a wrecking ball to our founding fathers’ historic project: Three independent, coequal branches of government.

There are no longer any checks and balances. Congress is nowhere to be found. [House] Speaker [Mike] Johnson has completely abdicated that responsibility.

The rule of law has increasingly given way to the rule of Don.

The founding fathers did not live and die to see this moment. It’s time for all of us to stand up. [Supreme Court Justice Louis] Brandeis said it best: In a democracy, the most important office is not president, it’s certainly not governor. The most important office is office of citizen.

At this moment, we must all stand up and be held to a higher level of accountability. If you exercise your First Amendment rights, please do so peacefully.

I know many of you are feeling deep anxiety, stress, and fear. But I want you to know that YOU are the antidote to that fear and anxiety.

What Donald Trump wants most is your fealty. Your silence. To be complicit in this moment. Do NOT give in to him.