President Donald Trump said California Governor Gavin Newsom should be “thanking” him for calling in the National Guard in Los Angeles after an appeals court ruling delayed the military being used to help stop anti-ICE protests.
A U.S. District Judge ruled Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops in LA was “illegal” and violated the Tenth Amendment, and that troops had to leave. But a late-night decision by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dealt a blow to Newsom and delayed the implementation of the lower court order.
“Incompetent Gavin Newscum should have been THANKING me for the job we did in Los Angeles, rather than making sad excuses for the poor job he has done,” Trump raged on Truth Social Thursday evening. “If it weren’t for me getting the National Guard into Los Angeles, it would be burning to the ground right now!”
For now, Trump will maintain control of the National Guard in LA after the court rulings.
Before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals intervened, Newsom had touted the district judge’s decision as a win.
“The court just confirmed what we all know — the military belongs on the battlefield, not on our city streets,” Newsom wrote in a statement on X. “This win is not just for California, but the nation. It’s a check on a man whose authoritarian tendencies are increasing by the day.”
Newsom and Trump have been trading barbs all week. The governor raised concerns about Trump’s mental acuity Thursday, saying the president fabricated details of a conversation about federalizing the state’s National Guard.
The military said that by Friday evening, a battalion of 700 Marines is expected to join the National Guard in Los Angeles to protect ICE agents conducting immigration raids.
After a week of unrest, more protests against the Trump administration’s ongoing workplace raids erupted in Southern California and across the nation, which are expected to continue through the weekend, aligning with the president’s birthday parade.
