It's Almost a Laugh Riot

"I am directing Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Attorney General Pam Bondi, in coordination with all other relevant Departments and Agencies, to take all such action necessary to liberate Los Angeles from the Migrant Invasion, and put an end to these Migrant riots.  Order will be restored, the Illegals will be expelled, and Los Angeles will be set free."

-- Trump, Saturday, June 7, 2025

DATELINE:  Sunday, June 8, 2025

​This is ace war correspondent R.J. "Scoop" Elisberg in full battle gear reporting live from the frontlines of war-torn Tinseltown, the City of Angels.  Hollyweird.  Where hyperbole is thicker in the air than smog.  And the only thing emptier than an agent's heart is the vacuum of Trump's existence.

There are no migrant riots here in Los Angeles.

There are no riots of any kind here.

There is no "Migrant Invasion" taking place.

Los Angeles has zero need to be "liberated".

There is no lack of order here.

Los Angeles is not burning and out of control.

There is no "Insurrection" to overthrow the U.S. government,

All is just fine here.

It's a pretty nice day here, in fact.

Indeed, Trump's words are are dancing on the edge of eye-rolling hilarious, and would be if they weren't so dangerous and quite literally, by every book definition, fascist.

There are a couple of legal, and largely (though not completely) very peaceful protests against immigration sweeps by masked ICE agents who are arresting workers, parents, even children -- not "the gang members and most dangerous criminals -- to deport them.  One protest is being held downtown, where local police managed all by themselves to arrest a whole 27 people on Saturday night.

Yes, 27 arrests.

For perspective, the metropolitan area of Los Angeles has 12.8 million residents. 

The other protest is near a Home Depot in the adjacent town of Paramount, where 100 immigration arrests have occurred the past week, causing some confrontational issues, though everything is under control.

Los Angeles is absolutely, perfectly, 100%, of course free.

The local police have been handling the legal protests just fine.  Keeping order, which is what the police do at legal protests.

I was in Los Angeles during the "Rodney King riots" in 1992.  That was a riot.  The city was out of control.  You could smell the fires in the air.  This now?  

There is no riot of any kind here.

Los Angeles is not burning and out of control.

There is no "insurrection" to overthrow the U.S. government.

All is just fine here.

Of course, a disclaimer must be added.  "All is fine here" before Trump inflamed the situation, called it an invasion, illegally federalized the National Guard and sent 2,000 troops into Los Angeles.  Actions that risk confrontation and increase the threat of violence, perhaps intentionally to manufacture a crisis, which "Trump alone" can claim to fix. 

And lest anyone thing this is biased hyperbole, here is a news release that the LAPD put out on Saturday -- before Trump ordered in 2,000 troops of the National Guard.
​

What changed between then and the next day?  Trump ordering in 2,000 National Guard troops to provoke a push-back.

​And to make matters worse (perhaps intentionally...), woefully-unqualified Defense Secretary Hegseth states he might send in 500 Marines.  Against U.S. citizens on American soil!

All of which is profoundly illegal without Trump invoking the Insurrection Act.  And there is no Insurrection.  There are largely peaceful protests.  And by the way, even if a protest isn't peaceful, that doesn't make it an Insurrection.  There is no Insurrection.  It's a protest.

If you saw smoke or heard explosions on the news over the weekend, that's pretty much from federals agents who the Los Angeles Daily News reported "unleashed tear gas, flash-bang explosives and pepper balls" at the legal protesters.  Protests in return have "hurled rocks and cement at Border Patrol vehicles".  One car was set on fire.  It increased to three after the National Guard arrived -- though in fairness that's still fewer than happens in a city celebrating its team winning the World Series.

And even if cars are on fire, that doesn't make it an Insurrection.  We have all seen cars on fire as acts of violence -- for decades, so often it's almost become common.  The U.S. military was not called out just because a car, or some cars were on fire.  The Marines weren't sent in.  Burning cars are not Insurrections.  They are not necessarily even riots.  They are crimes.  That's why we have local police.  And fire departments.  Who are trained to handle such things.  Like burning cars.  And protests.  And protests that are largely very  peaceful.

A riot?  Insurrection?

Almost all the people involved are standing or walking around calmly carrying protest signs.  Unarmed.  Peaceful.

What changed between then and the next day?  Trump ordering in 2,000 National Guard troops to provoke a push-back.

​And lest you think this is hyperbole and bleeding-heart exaggeration -- here's video of Australian reporter Lauren Tomasi calmly standing as she delivers her report on air live, and then getting shot by a law officer!  You can spot the moment on the left of the freeze frame below, but seeing the rifle being aimed will be even more clear around the 15-second mark of the video.

Ms. Tomasi was injured, but fortunately not seriously.  No word on what agency the officer worked for.  Or if he's been held accountable.  Let alone will be sued.

And to make matters worse (perhaps intentionally...), woefully-unqualified Defense Secretary Hegseth states he might send in 500 Marines.  Against U.S. citizens on American soil!

All of which is profoundly illegal without Trump invoking the Insurrection Act.  And there is no Insurrection.  There are largely peaceful protests.  And by the way, even if a protest isn't peaceful, that doesn't make it an Insurrection.  There is no Insurrection.  It's a protest.

If you saw smoke or heard explosions on the news over the weekend, that's pretty much from federals agents who the Los Angeles Daily News reported "unleashed tear gas, flash-bang explosives and pepper balls" at the legal protesters.  Protests in return have "hurled rocks and cement at Border Patrol vehicles".  One car was set on fire.  It increased to three after the National Guard arrived -- though in fairness that's still fewer than happens in a city celebrating its team winning the World Series.

And even if cars are on fire, that doesn't make it an Insurrection.  We have all seen cars on fire as acts of violence -- for decades, so often it's almost become common.  The U.S. military was not called out just because a car, or some cars were on fire.  The Marines weren't sent in.  Burning cars are not Insurrections.  They are not necessarily even riots.  They are crimes.  That's why we have local police.  And fire departments.  Who are trained to handle such things.  Like burning cars.  And protests.  And protests that are largely very  peaceful.

A riot?  Insurrection?

Almost all the people involved are standing or walking around calmly carrying protest signs.  Unarmed.  Peaceful.

And for this, Trump has illegally federalized the National Guard without any coordination with Gov. Gavin Newsom (as required by law), and Defense Secretary Hegseth has threatened to send in the Marines!!!  All to "free" already long-free Los Angeles.

An Insurrection?? In fairness, we do know that Trump doesn't have the slightest clue what an Insurrection is.  After all, there was an actual Insurrection on January 6, 2021, storming the U.S. Capitol, trying to overthrow the government.  Where 1,500 people were arrested, and Trump pardoned every one of them.  And never called out the National Guard.

In a statement, Gov. Newsom -- who, like all governors, oversees the state and, like all governors, is in charge of his state's National Guard -- wrote, "Let me be totally clear about what is happening here. We have been working closely with law enforcement. There is no unmet need. The president is attempting to inflame passions and provoke a response.  “He would like nothing more than for this provocative show of force — and Pete Hegseth’s absurd threat that he's ready to deploy United States Marines on American soil — to escalate tensions and incite violence.”

Mayor Karen Bass spoke to Border Czar Tom Homan and said she told him, “If you want there to be chaos, then have troops on the ground when there is absolutely no need for that to happen.”

There is indeed absolutely no need for that to happen.  With an emphasis on "absolutely" and also "no need."

Through all this fascist attempt to show military force where none is required, my favorite quote comes from Trump.  On his social media site Saturday night, without the slightest sense of irony, seemingly blissfully unaware that one of the many outraged complaints by protestors (and non-protestors around the country) is the use of ICE agents not only wearing masks to hide themselves, but often not even providing identification, he wrote about the protestors --

"Also, from now on, MASKS WILL NOT BE ALLOWED to be worn at protests. What do these people have to hide, and why???"

Putting aside that Trump apparently is now attempting to determine a dress code for protests, it's almost bizarre that in his fascist bubble he doesn't recognize how directly he is describing ICE agents.

But he immediately followed this with a comment that is just so pure Trump, lost in his pathologically-lying early-dementia world, that it finished an extremely razor thin close, second-favorite quote.  The very next words that he wrote on Saturday night were -- "Again, thank you to the National Guard for a job well done!” 

The National Guard did not arrive until Sunday.

Beyond being blissfully unaware and seemingly unconcerned with reality while living in his hate-filled, authoritarian bubble, Trump and MAGOPs seem also to be ignoring (or have weirdly forgotten or just don't care) how this all looks to the rest of the world about the city which will be hosting the next Olympics.  The representative selected to  show off the United States at its finest while inviting foreign visitors to come to Los Angeles for a wonderful, celebration of freedom and democracy.

A reminder.  Lest anyone think this is exaggeration putting focus on it being Trump's actions that risk turning legal, largely peaceful protests out of control by sending in the National Guard -- in 1968 at the Democratic Convention in Chicago, a legal gathering of hippies, yippies, radicals and mostly peaceful protesters exploded into disaster.  And a federal study of the event put the blame, not on the protestors or even radicals, but rather called it "a police riot."

And the cry that went out defining it all was -- "The whole world is watching."

How noteworthy is the timing that on Saturday, when Trump was spewing his ratcheted up Trump-sociopathic lies, CNN was airing a live performance of the Broadway play, Good Night, and Good Luck, about famed CBS journalist Edward R. Murrow reporting against Sen. Joe McCarthy (R-WI) whose self-aggrandizing efforts to eliminate enemies from the country turned into out-of-control demonizing lies that terrorized and almost destroyed the country, but in the end got him censured by the Senate, leading to public condemnation and ruin.

A riot?  Insurrection?

This is not that.  This is Trump trying to defund Harvard.  This is Trump suing the top law firms.  This is Trump suing ABC and CBS.  This is Trump taking on the country's second most-populous city, heavily liberal, the entertainment capital of the world, and trying to terrify all other U.S. cities into compliance.  This is Trump creating chaos, provoking violence to manufacture a non-existent "problem" in order to assert his dominance.  This is Fascism 101 from the playbook, trying to undermine centers of opposition power.

And for all this, it's not about Trump, we know who he is.  We know he is a fascist, a pathological liar, racist, an anti-Semite with dementia.  This is about the elected MAGOPs in Congress who enable Trump and are silent throughout all, accepting it all as their policy.  And worse, exacerbating the dry kindling that Trump lit.

After all, there was Ted Cruz (R-TX) reposting a photo supposedly showing the intense violence going on -- except that the photo wasn't from the weekend protests.  It was from 2020, five years ago.

There are no migrant riots here in Los Angeles.  

There are no riots. 

There is no "Migrant Invasion" taking place.  

Los Angeles has zero need to be "liberated". 

Everything is in order.   

Los Angeles is not burning and not out of control.

There is no "Insurrection."

There are a couple of legal protests to protect immigrants, legal or otherwise.

All is just fine here.

Except for the presence of the illegally-federalized National Guard ratcheting up the risk of violence.

The whole world is watching.