“Republicans have become the party of lawlessness and disorder,” said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.
President Donald Trump was defiant on Tuesday, days into his decision to deploy thousands of National Guard troops and hundreds of U.S. Marines to protests in the city of Los Angeles.
While in the White House Oval Office, Trump justified the use of military force on civilians despite legal concerns. The president, who called protesters against his administration’s mass immigration raids “animals” and “insurrectionists,” told reporters, “We stopped a disaster.” He added, “That city right now would be on fire. It would be burning down.”
Kristi Noem, Trump’s Secretary of Homeland Security, argued to the contrary of critics that Trump had “every authority under the Constitution” to deploy the military.
However, critics point out that Title 10 of the United States Code that a president must have the governor’s consent before deploying a state’s National Guard. California Gov. Gavin Newsom argues as much in his recent lawsuit against the Trump administration to end the military deployments.
Political critics of the president are also calling out the glaring hypocrisy in Trump’s latest actions in Los Angeles. While he claims to have the executive authority to deploy military troops to American cities, Trump had a very different take on his authority as commander-in-chief.
Four years ago, on Jan. 6, 2021, thousands of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol after he urged them to descend on Capitol Hill under the false claim that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from him. Despite the urging of elected officials, Trump refused to deploy the D.C. National Guard, which, unlike other state National Guards, the president controls because Washington, D.C., is not a state.
“Donald Trump wasn’t a leader on Jan. 6. He didn’t send the National Guard to stop the violent mob that was brutally beating police officers in plain view for every single American to see,” said House Democratic Leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y, during a press conference on Monday. “And this guy, who likely withheld the National Guard — he certainly didn’t send them forward — is lecturing the country about law and order?”
“Give me a break. We’re not feeling you, particularly as it relates to this issue,” the Brooklyn Democrat continued. “Donald Trump and all of these minions who support him — the sycophants, the extremists — have zero credibility on this issue. Republicans have become the party of lawlessness and disorder.”
Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., also slammed Trump for contradicting himself about the escalation in LA versus the Jan. 6 riot, which resulted in deaths.
“We begged the president of the United States to send in the National Guard. He would not do it,” Pelosi said at the news conference on Capitol Hill Tuesday. “Something is very wrong with this picture, inconsistent in his actions, contrary to his own statement that…he couldn’t send anyone in without the governor’s consent, any place. And in violation of the Constitution.”
U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., forcefully refuted the Trump administration’s claims that the protests in LA were violent and therefore needed the intervention of the U.S. military.
“You cannot believe what the president is telling you. You’ve got to understand that he’s a liar…We don’t have any outpouring of violence,” she told reporters during the same news conference on Tuesday. “Nobody was shot, nobody was killed.”
The longtime congresswoman accused Trump of “provoking” the political moment, adding, “Don’t just rely on what you’re being told or the few incidents that you saw. He’s provoking.”
Waters said the demonstrators protesting Trump’s immigration actions were largely participating in “peaceful protests,” which she noted “the Constitution guarantees.”
“Stop this lying president from what he’s doing and getting it into your heads and get it straight,” she told reporters.
Legal or not, Trump’s decision to send the military to a U.S. city is also unpopular with the court of public opinion. According to a poll conducted by YouGov, a majority of respondents, 47%, disagreed with Trump’s actions. Thirty-four percent approved the order, while another 19% said they were unsure.
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Originally sourced via trusted media partner. https://thegrio.com/2025/06/10/trump-hyprocrisy-constitutional-violation-military-los-angeles/
