L.A. ICE raids draw California governor again into the struggle with Trump

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom resisted a struggle with President Trump over transgender youth in ladies’s sports activities. He pressured his method onto a runway tarmac to make peace with the Republican chief after the Los Angeles wildfires.

Simply final week, he hesitated earlier than talking out when rumors swirled a couple of huge federal funding reduce to California.

Newsom’s restraint ended when Trump usurped the governor’s authority over the weekend by deploying the California Nationwide Guard to the streets of Los Angeles to quell protests in opposition to immigration raids.

“I’m nonetheless keen to do what I can to have the backs of the individuals I characterize and no matter it takes to advance that trigger, I’ll do, however I’m not going to do it once we see the trampling of our Structure and the rule of regulation,” Newsom mentioned in an interview with The Occasions. “So all of us have our crimson traces. That’s my crimson line.”

Newsom mentioned the arrival of troops within the largest metropolis within the Golden State escalated tensions between protesters and regulation enforcement, which he blamed Trump for deliberately inflaming to sow chaos. Whether or not Newsom likes it or not, the president’s actions additionally catapulted the governor to the entrance traces of a Democratic resistance in opposition to Trump that he has been reluctant to embrace after his celebration misplaced the presidential election in November.

On Monday, Trump mentioned his border czar Tom Homan ought to comply with by means of on threats to arrest the governor. The president has forged California as uncontrolled and Newsom incompetent for not stepping in and ending the unrest, or defending federal immigration brokers from protesters.

“I’d do it if I had been Tom,” Trump mentioned. “I believe it’s nice. Gavin likes the publicity, however I believe it will be an ideal factor. He’s achieved a horrible job.”

Newsom additionally baited Homan: “Come and get me, robust man.”

Newsom’s place because the chief of a state that has grow to be an immigration goal for the federal authorities provides each dangers and rewards for a governor contemplating a 2028 run for the White Home.

Democrats and progressives are thirsty for a pacesetter to problem Trump and his controversial insurance policies. The Nationwide Democratic Occasion rapidly took to social media to publicize the governor’s problem to Homan to arrest him. Being carted away in handcuffs by officers in Trump’s Justice Division would in all probability elevate Newsom to Democratic martyr standing.

A man in a blue suit and red tie speaks in front of a helicopter

“In a method, he was channeling Trump, as a result of he is aware of how a lot Trump benefited within the Republican Occasion from his personal felony conviction,” mentioned John Pitney, the Roy P. Crocker Professor of American Politics at Claremont McKenna School.

Even with out an arrest, the political battle is more likely to increase Newsom’s standing with Democrats.

However immigration is one in all Trump’s finest coverage points with voters and it’s not a great political struggle for any Democrat with presidential aspirations.

“That is the brilliance of Donald Trump,” mentioned Thad Kousser, a professor of political science at UC San Diego. “He’s selecting these fights over govt energy and over the ability of federal authorities on a political terrain during which he’s hottest: immigration, transgender athletes, DEI, ‘woke’ universities. He’s selecting these governance fights the place he thinks he can win on the politics.”

For Newsom, the raids present a possibility to problem the president’s narrative that his immigration coverage is all about eradicating criminals and defending the border, Kousser mentioned.

In interviews, Newsom has repeated that the Trump administration is focusing on youngsters in elementary faculty school rooms and law-abiding residents who’ve been in California for a decade or extra.

He’s additionally framing Trump’s deployment of troops to Los Angeles as about greater than immigration.

“That is one thing larger,” Newsom mentioned. “That is sure energy and management over each facet of our lives. That is about wrecking the constitutional order. That is about tearing down the rule of regulation. That is about, actually, the cornerstone of our founding fathers, and so they’re rolling of their graves.”

Trump’s Los Angeles takeover might derail the work the governor has put in to showcase his extra reasonable coverage positions to America.

Whereas judiciously selecting and selecting his battles with Trump, Newsom used his podcast this 12 months to air his perception that it’s unfair for transgender athletes to compete in ladies and women’ sports activities. Via interviews with controversial conservative figures comparable to Stephen Ok. Bannon, the governor tried to exhibit his capability to be cordial with anybody no matter their political affiliation.

Newsom has been strategic in regards to the assaults he makes in opposition to Trump, comparable to criticizing the tariffs which are a political vulnerability for the president.

“Anyone who desires to guide the Democratic Occasion wants the assist or at the least the acquiescence of the progressive wing of the celebration, however Democrats must attraction to the broader basic public, and to this point, this example isn’t serving to,” Pitney mentioned of the battle over immigration.

The pictures streaming out of Los Angeles additionally create an electoral vulnerability for the governor.

“Perchance Newsom had been the Democratic nominee in 2028, you’d anticipate to see photos of burning Waymos on the streets of Los Angeles with the tagline of ‘what Newsom did for California, he’ll do for America,”’ Pitney mentioned.

Kousser contends that Newsom, in a presidential marketing campaign, can be held liable for all of California’s shortcomings, no matter whether or not he stood as much as Trump’s immigration raids.

Though the governor is combating within the courts with a lawsuit introduced Monday, by supporting peaceable protests and utilizing his public podium, there’s little he can do to cease the federal authorities. The scenario highlights the problem for Newsom and any state chief with curiosity within the White Home.

“That is the blessing and the curse of a governor who desires to run for increased workplace. When one thing occurs of their state, they get the eyes of the nation upon them even when it’s not the political floor on which they’d relatively struggle,” Kousser mentioned.