The light of our democracy is blinking red

His hair, his business acumen, his golf scores, his stated weight, his claimed 2020 election “win” – everything about Donald Trump is fake except his thirst for power.

Overnight, Trump called up 2,000 more troops from the California National Guard, and there are reports this morning that the 700 active-duty Marines are headed for Los Angeles. Trump has used the demonstrations against ICE arrests that started on Saturday to escalate the situation in L.A. into a crisis. The Hill headlined a story yesterday, “Trump vs. California is the fight the White House wants.”

Here is how Jonathan Lemire put it on Morning Joe: “This is an opportunity for this White House. I heard from a White House adviser just this morning, basically saying, 'We couldn't have scripted this any better.' You're looking to change the topic of conversation from the Elon Musk brouhaha last week, and the ongoing questions about the bill, the 'big, beautiful bill' that's heading to the Senate.”

Lemire added, "This is the turf where they want to fight, and it's California, it's Los Angeles, a deep blue state and city. They're getting those images in that B-roll ... of a masked man with a Mexican flag in front of a car that's on fire, one of those self-driving taxis, probably, and that's what they want to project to their audiences, to their base: 'Look, this is dangerous, that's why we're taking the steps that we are,' and they're setting a trap for Democrats."

Last night, I agreed completely with The Hill and Lemire. I posted a story that the crisis in L.A. manufactured by the White House is all about the midterm elections. Trump wants the photos and tape of the burning cars, the protesters waving Mexican flags.

But it’s more than a White House political strategy. This is the biggest power-grab in recent American history, maybe in all American history, depending on how the situation plays out over the next five or six days. In his Substack this morning, Paul Krugman, the former New York Times op-ed columnist and one of the most sober-sided, level-headed, middle of the road commentators I’ve ever read, reminded his readers of the “sadism” of Trump’s “American Carnage” speech at his first inauguration, and then he wrote this:

“The events unfolding in Los Angeles as you read this and, I fear, the events likely to unfold across much of America soon, quite possibly this weekend, suggest that the motivations of Trump and his cronies go deeper than mere (mere!) sadism. They want to use false claims of chaos to justify a power grab that, if successful, would mark the end of the American experiment.”

Krugman went on to point out that Trump “isn’t reacting to any real threat of disorder in California. No, this is all about finding excuses to use force against Trump’s critics and opponents and justify an anti-democratic power grab.”

I couldn’t agree more. Trump is going to keep escalating in L.A. and now, given the protests there, San Francisco. He doesn’t want order in the streets. He wants more chaos. It’s almost inevitable that a protester will be killed by a member of the police or by a National Guard soldier. But that’s not what Trump is waiting for. He’s sitting there in the White House just waiting for a cop or a soldier he deployed to be killed by a protester. He will use that incident to declare that Governor Newsom has lost his ability to enforce the laws of California and keep the peace, and he will invoke the Insurrection Act.

Here is the language of that law Trump will cite:

“The President, by using the militia or the armed forces, or both, or by any other means, shall take such measures as he considers necessary to suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy, if it—

(1) so hinders the execution of the laws of that State, and of the United States within the State, that any part or class of its people is deprived of a right, privilege, immunity, or protection named in the Constitution and secured by law, and the constituted authorities of that State are unable, fail, or refuse to protect that right, privilege, or immunity, or to give that protection; or

(2) opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws.

In any situation covered by clause (1), the State shall be considered to have denied the equal protection of the laws secured by the Constitution.

That is a description of a take-over of a state by the federal government acting on the orders of the President. It is exactly what Trump wants, and what he will do.

Look at that last paragraph: Trump will say that Newsom has “denied the equal protection of the laws” by allowing violent protests to continue. He will use a citation of rights under the Constitution of the United States to take away the right of every Californian to self-government. Invocation of the Insurrection Act will put Trump in charge of enforcing the laws of the State of California. He will be able to use the National Guard and active-duty Marines or other Army units to arrest and detain protesters. Read again the language of the Act: Trump can use the “militia or armed forces” to take over a state if any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy… so hinders the execution of the laws of that State, and of the United States within the State.

That language, including the word “conspiracy,” is wide open to abuse by Trump. He can define anything as a conspiracy against his authority. Protesters can be acting in a law-abiding manner, not throwing rocks at cops or lighting cars on fire, just standing there with signs shouting slogans. Trump will be able to define this behavior as “rebellion” against his authority, which he will have asserted under the Insurrection Act. He can order the insurgents or those obstructing the enforcement of the laws to disperse, and if they don’t, he will take that as justification to do anything he wants to do, which is the way he has said that he sees his powers as president anyway.

Once Trump uses the Insurrection Act, Gavin Newsom will be powerless to stop him. Trump could even arrest Newsome and charge him with some made-up crime like refusing to execute valid laws or inciting a riot. Trump has already suggested that Newsome be arrested by his so-called “border czar,” Tom Homan, who has zero authority to arrest and detain anyone.

"I would do it if I were Tom. I think it's great," Trump said of the prospect of arresting the governor of California. Note that neither Trump nor any of his minions have asserted that Newsom has committed a crime. Trump realizes that if he invokes the Insurrection Act, he will be the law in California, and he can say what is a crime and what isn’t.

Krugman made the point that with “No Kings” protests scheduled for this coming weekend, Trump will have the opportunity to spread the chaos he has created to other blue states and cities. He’s waiting for a cop car to be set on fire, or some windows to be broken by provocateurs in a blue city downtown, or some looting to take place. Once Trump has the video footage of what he will call “violent leftist thugs” creating a “rebellion” or “insurrection,” he’ll be able to invoke the Insurrection Act in other blue states.

This is indeed the fight they’ve been looking for, and that it’s about immigration makes it all the better for Trump’s propagandists. They can assert that many or most of the protesters aren’t even citizens. They’ll continue to point to Mexican flags. Look at this from Trump’s supposedly former friend, Elon Musk. “This is not okay,” he tweeted yesterday:

They’re all going to get on board, all the fascists like Musk and of course Stephen Miller, and soon, we’ll be hearing from Congressional Republicans, not only standing by Trump, but egging him on.

We are facing an existential moment in our democracy. If Trump invokes the Insurrection Act, self-government in blue states where he uses it will be over. Trump will be able to deploy the military anywhere he wants. Every time a cop or a soldier is assaulted by a protester, or even killed, he will use it as evidence that his strongman authoritarian tactics are needed to restore “law and order.”

Yes, the man who has broken the law more often than any president in history, who has been convicted on 34 counts of breaking New York State laws by paying hush money to a woman he had sex with out of marriage, will make himself out to be the president of law and order, when in actuality, he will be the president of fascist order.

I said it last night and I’ll say it again: Democrats had better get their shit together, because Trump will use anything to justify the authoritarian power grab he has been planning for years.