A clash over protest rights and state sovereignty escalated in Los Angeles this week, as President Donald Trump ordered a fresh wave of federal troops. “They spit. We hit,” he said, alleging assaults on officers — without providing public evidence. Protesters, meanwhile, pushed back with their own rallying cry: “We are the voice for the ones who cannot speak.”
Trump’s claim that demonstrators have been spitting on officers — despite no public evidence — preceded his order to deploy 2,000 additional National Guard troops and 700 Marines to Los Angeles.
These forces joined the 2,100 Guard members already deployed since Sunday, marking the first federal activation of California’s National Guard without Gov. Gavin Newsom’s request in decades.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta immediately filed suit, arguing that the president overstepped constitutional bounds and violated the state’s sovereignty.
On X, Newsom decried the move as “illegal and immoral,” while Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass warned the troop surge could spark chaos rather than calm it.
With tear gas, rubber bullets and fiery clashes still fresh in downtown streets, L.A. braces for another round of tension.
