When border czar Tom Homan threatened to arrest California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Trump goaded Homan on, telling reporters, “I would do it if I were Tom. I think it's great!” adding, “Gavin likes the publicity, but I think it would be a great thing.”
While Trump brays about having a Democratic governor arrested and Kristi Noem had a Democratic U.S. Senator tackled for asking questions, someone should tell them that two can play that game. In the State of California, inciting public violence is a crime. California Penal Code (PC) 404.6 states:
Anyone who with the intent to cause a riot does an act or engages in conduct urging a riot, or urges others to commit acts of force or violence, or the burning or destroying of property, and at a time and place and under circumstances that produce a clear and present and immediate danger of acts of violence or destroying of property, is guilty of incitement to riot.
Every law enforcement agency in the United States, including the FBI, knows that an excessive show of force will turn peaceful protesters into violent rioters, almost instantaneously.
Nothing radicalizes citizens faster than being brutalized by state force
Whomever is advising Trump in LA knows that the quickest and surest way to radicalize any population is to use or display disproportionate force against unarmed people. A disproportionate government response to civic unrest predictably triggers anti-government sentiment, and causes violence that feels like self-defense. Military, police chiefs, and counterinsurgency experts know this.
Every law enforcement organization in the U.S. trains its officers to de-escalate — to diffuse violence rather than exacerbate it. Trump’s own FBI acknowledges, through its Crisis Negotiation Unit, that de-escalation is “crucial in keeping police officers out of harm’s way … anecdotal and impressionistic evidence clearly reflects that this methodical approach to managing crisis events has saved thousands.”
By sending the military into LA for what started out as largely peaceful protests, Trump is doing the opposite of what his own police intelligence counsels. Newsom is hip to what Trump is doing, and has made clear that Trump is putting the LA public, the police, and military members in harm’s way.
The world is watching Trump’s police state
Trump has made no secret of his plan to recall thousands of American troops from overseas to station them instead on American soil. With tanks in the streets and Fox News propaganda running 24/7, Trump will be able to remain in office until he appoints his successor. Trump’s objective is to remain in power, which he has admitted, to insulate himself from legal accountability until he dies.
To that end, he has done everything in his power since returning to office to instigate violence on the streets, and not just in LA. So far he’s tried to incite riots by arresting a Black mayor, arresting Black members of Congress, arresting a sitting judge, kidnapping brown people on their way into work, and sending migrants to foreign gulags without due process, all while filming and televising the cruelty as widely as possible.
The world is as disgusted as 70% of Americans are. Watch what a member of Canada’s parliament, Charlie Angus, just said in a fiery (and delicious) formal statement about Trump’s conduct in LA: “We’re not talking about creeping fascism here. This is full on police state tyranny from gangster president Donald Trump.”
California should withhold federal funds and arrest Trump
Newsom should consider withholding federal taxes, to fight fire with fire. The State of California is the nation’s biggest “donor state” — it pays $83 billion more to the feds every year than it receives — three times as much as the next biggest donor state. California taxpayers also contribute more than any other state to total federal taxes, according to IRS data. In FY 2023-24, California’s “total federal taxes were $806 billion — nearly twice as much as Texas, which contributed $417 billion, and more than twice the $384 billion New York contributed.” So whatever damage our toddler-in-chief hopes to inflict on California’s governor and state economy will assuredly ripple throughout the national economy.
Newsom, acknowledging that what Trump is doing to California is “pure theater” should take his cue, starting with serious talk about how to withhold funds from Washington and threatening to have Trump arrested. Even though a sitting president can’t be prosecuted while in office, they are not immune from arrest or criminal charges or prosecution after leaving office.
The point isn’t sending Trump to prison, where he’d be today if not for the partisan hacks he installed on the Supreme Court. The point is that Trump has cast himself as the strongman star of his own fascist reality show, but he’s not the only official with the power to have people arrested for breaking the law.
Sabrina Haake is a 25+ year federal trial attorney specializing in 1st and 14th A defense. Her columns are published in Alternet, Chicago Tribune, MSN, Out South Florida, Raw Story, Salon, Smart News and Windy City Times. Her Substack, The Haake Take, is free.
