During US president Donald Trump’s first administration, many Democratic governors served as a major source of opposition to Trump. Gavin Newsom, the current governor of California, regularly sparred with Trump on several issues, including immigration, healthcare and gun rights. But after Trump was re-elected in 2024, Newsom promised to work with Trump and put differences aside, much to the chagrin of progressives.
With Trump’s controversial deployment of the national guard and hundreds of marines to quell demonstrations in Los Angeles in protest of immigration raids, Newsom has made it clear that the truce is over, arguing that he believes that Trump is destroying democracy and acting like a dictator, with these actions.
The last time a president called out the national guard without the approval of a state governor was in March 1965 when Lyndon B. Johnson deployed the guard in Alabama, bypassing Governor George Wallace. This was to allow Americans to protest peacefully over civil rights. In that case, however, it is believed the governor wanted the president to act but didn’t want to take the decision himself.
