Unrestrained Trump flirts with Insurrection Act as Marines deploy to L.A.
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President Trump is edging closer than ever to invoking the Insurrection Act, driven by a vision of executive power free from the guardrails, governors and generals who stifled him in 2020.
Why it matters: The Insurrection Act of 1807, which allows the deployment of U.S. troops to quell domestic unrest, is among the most extreme emergency powers available to a sitting president.
- Trump already has broken decades of precedent by federalizing California's National Guard without the state's consent, aiming to crush the escalating protests in Los Angeles sparked by his administration's immigration raids.
- He's now openly telegraphing his willingness — even eagerness — to invoke the law, telling reporters Monday: "The people that are causing the problem are professional agitators. They're insurrectionists."
State of play: More than 700 Marines were mobilized Monday to respond to the protests in LA, joining up to 4,000 National Guardsmen. Without the Insurrection Act, the troops' mission is legally limited to protecting federal agents and property.
- California Gov. Gavin Newsom — whom Trump suggested Monday should be arrested — has accused the administration of manufacturing a crisis and illegally militarizing the city.
- "This is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism that threatens the foundation of our republic. We cannot let it stand," Newsom, who is suing Trump to reverse the National Guard order, posted on X.
- The protests erupted after sweeping ICE raids led to more than 100 arrests in the Los Angeles area. Demonstrators have blocked highways, torched vehicles and clashed with police, but much of the sprawling city is operating as normal.
The latest: The NYPD arrested two dozen protesters who swarmed the lobby of Trump Tower as protests against ICE raids spread across the country.
- Protests broke out in Santa Ana and San Francisco in California, plus Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio in Texas.
Waymo, which had self-driving cars set ablaze over the weekend, suspended service in downtown LA and curtailed service in San Francisco.
Flashback: For years, the Insurrection Act has loomed large in the minds of Trump and his conservative allies.
- In the summer of 2020, as Trump privately fumed over nationwide Black Lives Matter protests, White House aides drafted a proclamation to send thousands of active-duty U.S. troops into the streets.
- Trump ultimately was talked down by Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley and Defense Secretary Mark Esper, but he has publicly expressed regret over not acting more forcefully.
- Top Trump allies, including architects of the far-right roadmap "Project 2025," have at various points called for using the Insurrection Act to secure the border, preempt Inauguration Day protests, and even subvert the 2020 election.
The big picture: For Trump, the Los Angeles protests represent a perfect opportunity to fuse power, politics and spectacle.
- Immigration is Trump's home turf — his best-polling issue and the political anchor of his 2024 campaign, which promised mass deportations beginning on "day one."
- Newsom, his primary Democratic foil in the escalating showdown, is the ultimate MAGA bogeyman and a likely 2028 presidential candidate.
- California, to many conservatives, embodies the chaos of Democratic rule: a sanctuary state that they claim is being overrun by migrants and plagued by crime.
What they're saying: "The American people have made their opinion known on the President's immigration agenda, which is why President Trump is in the White House and Democrats lost the Presidency, the House, and the Senate," White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement.
What to watch: The Trump administration has already shown it's willing to steamroll longstanding norms around immigration enforcement — emboldened by the belief that public opinion is firmly on its side.
- Over the past two months, a Wisconsin judge, the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, and even a sitting member of Congress have been among those arrested for allegedly obstructing federal immigration operations.
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has signaled he's itching to get in on the action, with Pentagon social media accounts dropping the pretense of non-partisanship to attack California's leaders in openly political terms.
- "We're not going to let them get away with it," Trump said Sunday. "We're going to have troops everywhere, we're not going to let this happen to our country. We're not going to let our country be torn apart."
