Gavin Newsom: Trump is ‘unhinged,’ speaking like an ‘authoritarian’
The California governor blasted Trump amid the president’s deployment of National Guard troops to the Los Angeles area.
LOS ANGELES – California Governor Gavin Newsom said Donald Trump’s threats against him and other Democrats following the president’s unilateral deployment of the National Guard to the Los Angeles area bore all the hallmarks of authoritarianism.
“This is an extraordinary moment, and I don’t want to exaggerate, but these are the words of an authoritarian,” Newsom said in an interview with Politico on Monday. “Whether he acts or not, the sense of fear he’s creating is real, and this is a dangerous, very dangerous moment.”
Trump and his border agent threatened to arrest Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, naming them, along with other ominous, unspecified threats that the federal government would carry out if they didn’t comply. Newsom’s remarks followed a weekend of unrest—property destruction and outbreaks of violence—following immigration raids in the region.
On Monday, California sued the Trump administration for authorizing the involuntary deployment of troops. The president and his advisers portrayed the move as the beginning of a potential escalation, including the deployment of hundreds of U.S. Marines from nearby Camp Pendleton.
Newsom, Bass, and other Democratic leaders believe Trump’s actions were intended to incite protesters to film a major American city in chaos, as well as to distract from an unbalanced economy, aggravated by his trade disputes and his chaotic breakup with Elon Musk.
“He is mentally unstable, he is acting recklessly, and threatening the arrival of Marines in the United States is a very serious and sobering moment. We will resist that threat,” Newsom said.
The Democratic governor added that his state’s lawsuit challenging the National Guard deployment is the latest example of the use of the nation’s courts to check the president’s executive branch.
“There may still be a second branch in this country,” Newsom said. “It’s clear we’ve lost the legislative branch to Trump and Trumpism. We pray the courts hold firm.”
