 "(File) US President Donald Trump. Reuters")
US President Donald Trump’s controversial move to deploy the National Guard to quell protests in Los Angeles has created a political sandstorm in the country. Amid widespread opposition to his move, Trump appeared to double down on his immigration crackdown on Monday (June 9), approving deployment of an additional 2,000 National Guardsmen, joining the initial 2,000, alongside approximately 700 Marines, bringing the total military presence in LA to nearly 4,800.
The protests and riots that erupted after the Trump administration’s anti-immigration raids in Los Angeles have now engulfed dozens of American cities. Protests have taken place across New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and Washington, D.C., with varying degrees of police presence and tension.
Trump, on the other hand, looks all set to escalate the crisis further as he labelled the protestors “animals” and “foreign enemy” on Tuesday (June 10) during a speech at Fort Bragg.
Meanwhile, the crisis is soon slated to turn into a legal battle as California Governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday filed an emergency request in federal court seeking to block the Trump administration’s move to deploy troops. “Sending trained warfighters onto the streets is unprecedented and threatens the very core of our democracy,” he said.
“Donald Trump is behaving like a tyrant, not a President. We ask the court to immediately block these unlawful actions.”
Despite this deepening crisis in the USA’s political arena, Trump has consequentially managed to distract the masses from two of the biggest issues he was facing criticism for: His so-called ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ and the ongoing feud with tech billionaire Elon Musk.
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Ahead of the LA controversy, political pundits and media all had their guns pointed at Trump over the controversial ‘Big Beautiful Bill’. Now, everybody seems to be fixated on the administration’s anti-immigration crackdown in LA and beyond, giving Trump a window to distract the masses.
US Sen. Ed Markey echoed the same observation on Monday. While talking to an audience of business and community leaders in Boston, Markey said, “He’s trying to distract America from what he’s really trying to do. And that just becomes the circus.”
“There was never a threat … they had it under control. The governor didn’t ask for any additional help. No president for 60 years has sent in federal troops without a governor requesting it,” the Senator added, condemning the decision to deploy National Guard to California.
Trump-Musk feud
The other out-turn is that the whole crisis has overshadowed the buzz around the Musk-Trump feud , which turned ugly before the tech billionaire appeared to scale back tensions.
In fact, the LA episode has handed them an opportunity to form a united stance, at least in public messaging. Musk has condemned violent protests against Trump’s immigration policies and openly backed the decision to deploy National Guard.
For instance, Musk shared Trump’s Truth Social post on his X account in which the US president called on California governor and LA Mayor Bass to apologise to the people for “horrible job”. Musk also shared an image of a masked man waving a Mexican flag atop a burning car and wrote, “This is not ok”.
As the political drama unfolds over the LA protests, there are signs of an emerging truce between the world’s most powerful man and the richest.
Not only has Musk deleted several posts targeting the US president and linking him to Jeffrey Epstein files, but he has now expressed regret about some of his posts, saying, “they went too far”.
All in all, Musk’s recent actions suggest a pragmatic reunion over shared views on border security and public order. The LA unrest and federal response have certainly shifted public attention from the Trump-Musk feud and legislative battles to a growing unrest and a wider question of migrants, and a state-federal clash in the US.