Gripas Yuri/Abaca/Zuma
With tensions still lingering after National Guard members descended into Los Angeles this weekend, sending protesters who had been demonstrating against ICE’s workplace raids into clashes with law enforcement officials, President Donald Trump on Monday appeared determined to escalate the chaos.
“IF THEY SPIT, WE WILL HIT,” Trump wrote on his social media platform. “I promise you they will be hit harder than they have ever been hit before. Such disrespect will not be tolerated!”
He also again labeled the protesters, an overwhelming majority of whom have been peaceful, “insurrectionists.” The threat, redolent with violence and aggression, carried eerie echoes of his 2020 use of the phrase “when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” in response to protests in the wake of George Floyd’s police killing.
The post followed Trump expressing full-throated support for California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s arrest despite not having broken any laws. “I would do it if I were Tom,” Trump told reporters on Monday, referring to ICE acting director Tom Homan. “I think it’s a great idea.” The endorsement came hours after Homan appeared to dial things back, admitting that there hadn’t been any serious discussion about arresting Newsom.
California has since sued the Trump administration over his efforts to “manufacture chaos and crisis” for his political benefit. But together, Trump’s enthusiasm for violence and threats to arrest a sitting governor, after a weekend spent invoking an obscure law to deploy National Guard members when no such rebellion had been taking place, showed that legal issues are unlikely to chasten a president who is increasingly comfortable leaning into authoritarian tendencies.