The Devil in Los Angeles

Published in Analítica
(Venezuela) on 14 June 2025
by Trino Márquez Cegarra (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Alex Copley. Edited by Laurence Bouvard.
Donald Trump is using the protests in Los Angeles to show off the weapons in his anti-democratic arsenal. Protests that could have been managed and contained by local authorities — California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, both Democrats, together with state and local police — have become an excuse for Trump to mobilize the National Guard and deploy at least 700 Marines. In the process, he has bypassed these regional authorities to quell the disturbance caused by protesters he refers to as “animals,” who have taken to city streets to oppose the arbitrariness and climate of terror imposed by the federal government through the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Trump has called the governor and mayor “incompetent” because they have not used brute force against those that have stood up to the administration's actions. This approach is at the heart of how Trump governs: intimidation, threats, repression and radicalization. His ongoing standoff with the Democratic Party and his wish to establish a centralized government based out of the White House led to him pushing governors and mayors elected by popular vote — just as he was — to the margins. His actions in Los Angeles are in line with the authoritarian fist he has been ruling with since he became president.

One of the key foundations of a nation is that it should depend on dialogue and negotiation, rooted in recognizing the responsibilities and competencies of each level of government. In the case of California, Trump has bulldozed the authority of the governor and mayor. Both officials stated that an intervention from the National Guard, and especially the U.S. Marines, was not necessary because the presence of those groups would do little more than fan the flames of the population’s already heightened emotions. The Trump administration did not listen to these statements. Trump spoke of a “foreign invasion,” pointing out that protesters have been planting flags of other countries, despite the fact that those who have faced up to security forces are, for the most part, young people using rocks, bottles and other blunt instruments to express their objections to what the federal government is doing. Trump has suggested that he could invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 to punish insurrectionists. (He seems to have a special preference for legal instruments that were passed more than 200 years ago.)

Away from the skirmishes in the streets, Trump has opened an unprecedented new battlefront: a personal war with Gov. Newsom, whom he has not only insulted but threatened to jail for opposing orders from Washington. The governor has fought back, saying he will sue the president for overstepping his authority and encroaching on areas that remain within Newsom’s authority to act. All of these add up to an array of abuses that reflect Trump’s capricious and despotic nature.

The situation in Los Angeles has been analyzed by numerous intellectuals, including two highly prestigious historians, Anne Applebaum and Timothy W. Ryback, the latter an expert on Nazi history. In The Atlantic they join in warning about how Trump is using the protests — where violence has undoubtedly spilled over, largely due to the disproportionate behavior of law enforcement — to try to impose his personal centralist project. Ryback sees similarities between Trump’s actions and some of the steps Adolf Hitler encouraged to justify the dismantling of German democracy and impose totalitarian rule. This might seem like an exaggeration. But the persistence of Trump’s authoritarian conduct as head of state and the connections he maintains with the most radical groups in the country should raise all the red flags. A worrying example was his recent, insult-charged tirade against his adversaries before troops at Fort Bragg. Historical processes do not repeat themselves in an identical manner, but they do exhibit similarities.

One of the most shameful aspects of this debacle is that Trump’s actions are neither helping to resolve the issue of illegal immigration in the United States, nor are they repairing relations with regional governments. Instead, they are aggravating the crisis by introducing new obstacles linked to internal power struggles. Trump is isolating himself, with political and ideological support only from supremacists, racists and those extremist groups that are enemies of peaceful coexistence, inclusion and democracy.

The devil's presence in Los Angeles does little more than exacerbate bad feelings in California, a state that, on the one hand, needs foreign labor and, on the other, must process and offer legal status to immigrants.


Donald Trump está utilizando las protestas en Los Ángeles para mostrar las armas de su arsenal antidemocrático. Unos disturbios que pudieron haber sido manejados y controlados por las autoridades locales –el gobernador de California, Gavin Newson, y la alcaldesa de Los Ángeles, Kerem Bass, ambos del Partido Demócrata, junto con la policía del Estado y de la municipalidad-, se han convertido en la excusa para que Trump –pasando por encima de las autoridades regionales- movilice a la Guardia Nacional y emplace al menos 700 marines para sofocar los disturbios provocados por esos ‘animales’, como se refiere a los manifestantes que han salido a las calles de la ciudad a oponerse a las arbitrariedades y al clima de terror impuesto por el Gobierno Federal a través de los Servicios de Inmigración y Aduanas (ICE, por sus siglas en inglés).

Trump califica de ‘incompetentes’ al Gobernador y a la Alcaldesa porque no salieron a aplicar la fuerza bruta contra quienes se enfrentan a las medidas adoptadas por su Administración. Es el estilo que se encuentra en la raíz de su método de gobernar: la intimidación, la amenaza, la represión y la radicalización. El enfrentamiento desbocado con el Partido Demócrata y su aspiración de levantar un gobierno centralista basado en la Casa Blanca, lo llevan a marginar a los gobernadores y alcaldes electos a través del voto popular, al igual que él. Su actuación en Los Ángeles forma parte del patrón autoritario que viene aplicando desde que asumió la Presidencia.

Una de las claves de un Estado federado reside en el diálogo y la negociación fundados en el reconocimiento de las atribuciones y las áreas de competencia de cada nivel territorial del Gobierno. En el caso de California, Trump atropelló las facultades del Gobernador y la Alcaldesa. Ambos funcionarios señalaron que no era necesaria la intervención de la Guardia Nacional y aún menos de los marines porque la presencia de esos cuerpos no haría más que encender los ánimos, ya caldeados, de la población. Esos argumentos no fueron escuchados. Trump señaló que se trata de una ‘invasión extranjera’, pues los manifestantes han enarbolado banderas de otros países, a pesar de que quienes se han enfrentado con los cuerpos de seguridad son fundamentalmente jóvenes que utilizan piedras, botellas y otros objetos contundentes para expresar su rechazo al Gobierno central. Trump, incluso, ha dicho que podría invocar la Ley de Insurrección, norma que data de 1807, para castigar a los insurrectos (siente especial preferencia por instrumentos jurídicos que tienen más de dos siglos de haber sido aprobados).

Aparte de las escaramuzas en las vías públicas, Trump ha abierto un nuevo e insólito frente de batalla: su guerra particular con el gobernador Newson, a quien además de insultar ha amenazado con llevarlo a la cárcel por oponerse a las órdenes provenientes de Washington. El mandatario regional ha ripostado que demandará al Presidente ante la Corte Suprema de Justicia por haberse excedido en sus atribuciones y haber invadido el área bajo su jurisdicción. Todo un entresijo de abusos que reflejan el espíritu caprichoso y despótico de Trump.

Lo que está sucediendo en Los Ángeles ha sido analizado por numerosos intelectuales, entre ellos dos con tanto prestigio como Anne Applebaum y Thymothy W. Ryback, experto en historia del nazismo. En la revista The Atlantic, ambas figuras coinciden en alertar acerca de cómo Trump utiliza esas revueltas –en las cuales sin duda se ha desbordado la violencia, en gran parte provocada por la desmedida actuación de los cuerpos policiales- para intentar imponer su proyecto personalista y centralista. Ryback encuentra similitudes entre la actuación de Trump y algunos eventos promovidos por Hitler para justificar la destrucción de la democracia alemana e imponer el Estado totalitario. Pareciera una exageración. Pero, la persistencia de la conducta autoritaria de Trump en diversos planos de su accionar como primer mandatario y la conexión que mantiene con los sectores más radicalizados de la nación, deben levantar todas las banderas rojas. Un ejemplo preocupante fue su reciente intervención cargada de insultos contra sus adversarios, frente a la tropa en Fort Bragg. Los procesos históricos no se repiten de igual manera, pero sí de forma parecida.

Uno de los aspectos más lamentables de todo este espectáculo es que la actuación de Trump no contribuye a resolver el drama de la inmigración ilegal en Estados Unidos, ni las relaciones con los gobiernos regionales. Al contrario, agrava la crisis porque introduce nuevas aristas vinculadas con los factores internos de poder. Trump va quedándose solo con el soporte político e ideológico que le proporcionan los supremacistas, los racistas y todos esos grupos extremistas enemigos de la convivencia pacífica, la inclusión y la democracia.

La presencia del Diablo en Los Ángeles no hace más que aumentar el malestar en California, Estado que necesita la mano de obra extranjera, por un lado, y por el otro, controlar y legalizar a los inmigrantes.
This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

Hot this week

Spain: Trump-Musk: Affair, Breakup and Reconciliation?

Taiwan: Taiwan Issue Will Be Harder To Bypass during Future US-China Negotiations

Germany: If You’re Not for Him, You Should Be Afraid*

Germany: LA Protests: Why Are So Many Mexican Flags Flying in the US?

Cuba: Summit between Wars and Other Disruptions

Topics

India: What if Trump Has Just Started Another ‘Forever War’?

Russia: Will the US Intervene in an Iran-Israel Conflict? Political Analyst Weighs the Odds*

Cuba: Summit between Wars and Other Disruptions

Germany: Resistance to Trump’s Violence Is Justified

Germany: LA Protests: Why Are So Many Mexican Flags Flying in the US?

Spain: Trump-Musk: Affair, Breakup and Reconciliation?

Switzerland: Trump’s Military Contingent in Los Angeles Is Disproportionate and Dangerous

   

Germany: If You’re Not for Him, You Should Be Afraid*

Related Articles

Germany: Resistance to Trump’s Violence Is Justified

Germany: LA Protests: Why Are So Many Mexican Flags Flying in the US?

Austria: Trump Is Playing with Fire. Does He Want the Whole House To Go up in Flames?

Germany: Donald Trump’s Military Intervention in LA Is a Planned Escalation

Switzerland: US Travel Bans: On Immigration Policy, Trump Is Anything but Erratic