In an address delivered to nearly 40 million Californians and Americans nationwide earlier this month, California Governor Gavin Newsom condemned President Donald Trump’s unlawful militarisation of Los Angeles.
His forceful criticism of Trump came after his administration sent thousands more troops following another day of protests and arrests of unauthorised immigrants, and as the unrest spread to other US cities.
Newsom warned that the president’s actions marked a dangerous inflexion point for the nation, calling the move “the deranged fantasy of a dictatorial president”. He said: “What we’re witnessing is not law enforcement, it’s authoritarianism. What Donald Trump wants most is your fealty. Your silence. To be complicit in this moment. Do not give in to him.”
Newsom recounted recent federal raids in Latino neighbourhoods, the unlawful commandeering of 4,000 California National Guard members, and the deployment of over 700 active-duty Marines to the streets of an American city —all done without consultation with state or local officials.
“Trump is pulling a military dragnet across Los Angeles,” he said. “It’s weakness masquerading as strength.” Calling this a moment of national reckoning, the Governor urged Americans to take peaceful action. “The most important office in a democracy is not president or governor—it’s citizen.”
Fighting back
The state is suing the president for sending in troops without the governor's permission. It is highly unusual for the American military to have any domestic law enforcement role.
The standoff in LA represents the first time since 1965 that a president has sent National Guard troops to a US city without a governor's approval. US Marines were previously deployed domestically for major disasters such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the 11 September 2001 attacks.
The demonstrations began after it emerged that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers were carrying out raids in areas of the city with prominent Latino populations. Raids have stepped up after Trump returned to the White House and pledged to crack down on illegal immigration.
While Trump focused his attention on California, Texas Governor Greg Abbott—a Republican like Trump—ordered the state’s National Guard to deploy to San Antonio, ahead of planned rallies. Police also confronted protesters in Austin and Dallas. Thousands of protestors gathered in New York, where police told the BBC that “multiple” arrests had been made at largely peaceful demonstrations.
Elsewhere in California, thousands of people have protested in San Francisco, with more than 150 arrested after a demonstration near an ICE office turned violent on Sunday. Other flashpoints include Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington, DC.
Career and presidential ambitions?
Amidst the storm of protests sweeping the country, Newsom’s vocal criticism of Trump’s tactics has seen him emerge as one of the president’s most prominent opponents, prompting speculation that he may be harbouring ambitions to run for the presidency at some point.
Born on 10 October 1967, Gavin Christopher Newsom has been serving as the 40th governor of California since 2019. A Democrat, he served from 2011 to 2019 as the 49th lieutenant governor of California and from 2004 to 2011 as the 42nd mayor of San Francisco.
He graduated from Santa Clara University in 1989 with a degree in political science. Afterwards, he founded the boutique winery PlumpJack Group in Oakville, California, with billionaire heir and family friend Gordon Getty as an investor. The company grew to manage 23 businesses, including wineries, restaurants, and hotels.
Newsom began his political career in 1996, when San Francisco mayor Willie Brown appointed him to the city's Parking and Traffic Commission. Brown, a mentor and eventual partner to Kamala Harris, then appointed Newsom to fill a vacancy on the Board of Supervisors the next year, and Newsom was first elected to the board in 1998.
Newsom gained national attention in 2004 when he directed the San Francisco city–county clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, violating state law. In August 2004, the Supreme Court of California annulled the marriages Newsom had authorised, as they conflicted with state law. Newsom’s unexpected move brought national attention to the issue of same-sex marriage, solidifying political support for him in San Francisco and the LGBTQ+ community.
The California governor, however, had faded from national prominence as public attention shifted to Washington and, in his home state, to the deliberations over Kamala Harris’ political future.
Now, as Trump and his allies concentrate their attacks on Newsom in the deepening row over immigration unrest, they are inadvertently raising his stature on the Left. The move has given Newsom, who has never been one to conceal his aspirations for higher office, a surge of media attention. His time as governor of California is term-limited, so he will leave office after the 2026 election.
New lease of life
Trump’s war on Los Angeles has certainly given California’s Democrats, who have been struggling to recover from the drubbing they suffered in last year’s election, a new lease of life. Newsom certainly appears to be revelling in his personal confrontation with the Trump administration. Like many other Democratic elected officials, he is weighing whether to enter the 2028 presidential primary.
Newsom’s emergence as a genuine future presidential candidate for the Democrats can be seen from the hostile response he is receiving from senior Republicans, such as House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has sided with the president’s criticism of the Californian governor.
The president is “absolutely right” to send the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles as protests against ICE continue, Johnson sided with the president’s criticism of Newsom, declaring that the California governor should be “tarred and feathered”.
Good to know we’re skipping the arrest and going straight for the 1700’s style forms of punishment.
A fitting threat given the @GOP want to bring our country back to the 18th Century. https://t.co/0Ck1Xk3IEL
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 10, 2025
Trump, meanwhile, has taken to calling the governor “New-scum”, which Newsom derided in one recent interview as a lame “seventh-grade insult”. Newsom responded in a post on X: “Good to know we're skipping the arrest and going straight for the 1700s style forms of punishment. A fitting threat given the @GOP want to bring our country back to the 18th Century.”
Unedifying as these insults may be, they nevertheless illustrate how Newsom’s outspoken criticism of Trump’s immigration policy has persuaded his Republican opponents to view him as a serious future contender for the White House.
