It is hard to believe that it has been almost a month since President Donald Trump has illegally requisitioned thousands of troops from the California National Guard to help with his nativist assault in Los Angeles. Now, while the state’s forest fire season passes at the high speed, the state must rely on the whims of the Trump administration to see if it could, perhaps,, to go up its own troops so that the state does not burn.
Certainly what the founding fathers have planned, right?
After first demanding the deployment of 2,000 members of the California National Guard, Trump double at 4100 in mid-June. Why, pray to say? Well, it’s not that clear. Of course, Trump had all the generic statements on the protection of federal staff and others, but what it really looks like is that the administration now considers these troops as their own personal strength to deploy wherever they want, for everything they want. How to explain otherwise the deployment of more than 300 members of the National Guard in the Coachella valley – more than 100 miles from Los Angeles – to help the drug application agency Raid cannabis producers?
On June 24, while several forest fires began through the state, the governor’s office reported that the California National Guard teams operated Only 40% capacity. More than 300 members of the custody specially trained to work with Cal Fire on the fight against fires and prevention were rather used for all that Trump felt.
The weekend saw the season of state forest fires beginning quicklyand we expect that it is particularly bad summer. Monday, the Associated Press reported That the commander in charge of the Los Angeles working group had asked the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth if 200 members of the California National Guard could be sent back to forest fires – you know, their real use. The next day, the Ministry of Defense Announced magnanimously that he published 150 members of the Guard.
It is great to see it happen, both in terms of necessity and in terms of seeing the administration loop, but the whole case highlights what is so bad, so distorted, on what is happening now.
When the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal blocked The decision of a lower court requiring Trump to make control of the state guard, they have essentially approved The administration argument that the statutory requirement that the orders to federalize the members of the guard occur “through the governors of the States” did not mean that you had consent of the governor, but that you just needed to say, This was issued by the state. Who, of course. In addition, the position of the administration goes even further, declaring that No court can examine his determination at all.
Related | Trump sends 2,000 additional troops to terrorize Los Angeles
There are many reasons why it is a constitutional crisis that Trump is authorized to deploy troops in active service on domestic soil to exercise domestic tasks for applying the law. It is something so deeply anti -federalist, so intrusive about the authority of the States, that it is incredible to think that there is even a debate.
But what is happening in California shows an additional problem: if the president can take a quantity of troops from the national guard of a state for any reason, how can a state significantly control the use of his guard? How can a state count on having enough staff for critical challenges at the state level if the president can withdraw these troops?
When Trump was in power the last time, he deliberately delayed Help of Washington Forest Forest Faiths because it was Crazy about the Democratic Governor Jay insluated. Trump also initially Refused to provide help to the FEMA forest in California in 2018 Until it is said that the affected areas were in the county of Orange, which had largely supported it.
Trump has found a way to get funding to hinder efforts of state forest fires, and now has a way to arm the staff to do so too. There is no reason to think that he will not use it to harm the blue states, just as he always promises to do.
Campaign action
