Blocking the National Guard deployment to Oregon isn't just about protecting American democracy, as Gov. Newsom says. It's also about keeping California safe.
On Saturday, a federal judge blocked Donald Trump from deploying the Oregon National Guard to Portland. On Sunday, the president circumvented the court by plucking Guard troops from California and sending them to Portland, prompting an immediate vow by Gov. Gavin Newsom to seek another court order.
That night, the same federal judge — appointed during Trump’s first term — temporarily blocked the second deployment attempt. Newsom, perhaps the most barbed thorn in Trump’s side, cast it as a “victory for American democracy itself.”
Keeping Guard troops in California is also a victory for California. Yes, a grateful nation ought to thank Newsom for defending constitutional norms, but the governor also showed that battling Trump can pay material dividends for California.
To wit: It’s fire season in California. Months ago, the state’s National Guard fire crews operated at 40% capacity because of Trump’s politically motivated deployments to Los Angeles in June during immigration raids. Cal Fire lists five-plus pages of wildfire “incidents” on its website in June; we know October is likely to account for even more. We need all Guard troops at home and near fire lines now.
Don’t forget the ever-present threat of earthquakes. Just this weekend, multiple tremors rattled the Southern California mountain town of Big Bear Lake. Those quakes didn’t do anything close to damage requiring Guard deployment, but major temblors are always a threat. In 2019, after multiple large earthquakes hit Ridgecrest, Trona and other Mojave Desert towns, Newsom deployed the Guard (because it is governors who normally do such things) not to thump the skulls of looters, but to distribute food and water.
Trump sees rioters and antifa thugs everywhere in American cities, and the Guard is now the tip of his authoritarian spear. First in Los Angeles; now in Chicago and Portland, the president has demonstrated his appetite for conflict in the streets. In the face of Trump’s pursuit of power, it’s tempting to give into exhaustion, to resign yourself to what seems like the inevitable outcome of electing an authoritarian president.
Newsom seemed to be going down the path of accommodation at the start of Trump’s second term. Disgracefully, he joined in piling on transgender athletes in a podcast discussion with Charlie Kirk. But the governor abandoned that approach around the time Trump started talking about “liberating” Los Angeles and deployed Marines and National Guard troops.
That version of Newsom — the one that doesn’t accept the inevitability of Trumpism and eagerly fights back — is what we’re seeing now. To the rest of the country, it looks like taking a stand for American democracy, and appropriately so. To California, it’s simply good governance to keep National Guard troops where they belong.
