Article originally in the Financial Times. Other articles .
Edward Luce is a commentator and the Financial Times Chief Editor for the United States.
The organization of a military parade in the capital of America is associated with great expectations. Saturday’s tour of tanks, aircraft and marching will be held on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the establishment of the US Army and the 79th birthday of Donald Trump.
It will also take place a week after Trump sent a national guard to the streets of Los Angeles. For the first time in 60 years, the President did so against the will of the Governor of the State. However, these two situations have nothing to do.
There will be soldiers everywhere
In 1965, Lyndon Johnson deployed soldiers to protect the participants of the civil rights march from the local police in Alabama, who couldn’t wait to start shooting. In 2025, Trump’s declared goal was to protect federal agents and buildings from local protesters.
Unlike Johnson, Trump’s mission has an open goal. Johnson sealed his desegregation of the American south. Trump, on the other hand, begins his persecution of the “internal enemy” of America.
The fact that the protests are local is irrelevant. Neither California nor Los Angeles are mentioned in Trump’s decree, which refers to an almost unknown law to justify the intervention anywhere. Consider LA as Trump’s first bridgehead in the nationwide campaign.
“We will have military units everywhere,” he said. Its order will allow the deployment of the federal army in the streets of the United States. Trump’s campaign of mass deportation is starting. Trump has the brightest step towards authoritarianism so far.
Every thrown stone suits Trump
The first is that he can claim to have a mandate. Throughout the campaign, he promised to deport millions of migrants – if necessary with the help of the US Army. Theoretically, public opinion is slightly on his side.
Second, Trump knows that there are enough masked participants among the protesters who wave the Mexican flag. It is they who will give him an excuse for escalation. That’s what it is. Every thrown stone is like money thrown into Trump’s well wishes.
The US left should recall that Martin Luther King’s protests were anxiously calm. The aim of racist local sheriffs was to provoke violence. Although most protesters in Los Angeles are peaceful, the infamous ICE immigration and customs office has an easier job.
To emphasize, Trump claims that the left is international, extremist and violent. The protesters, in turn, advocate the right to a fair process, even for millions of immigrants who find themselves in Trump’s viewfinder. The future of the US Republic may depend on which party will identify with the government of the law.
Trump’s attack on democracy is breathtaking
Who would put the public opinion against Trump? Less than two hundred days since the beginning of his second term of office, he trampled more laws and tore more precedents than any other leader in the United States history.
He enriched himself and his family by selling cryptocurrencies abroad and golf resort shops. He unleashed war against leading universities and health institutions, ignored serial court orders to grant legal rights to deported persons. He declared, suspended and partially restored the economic war against the world.
He focused on investigating his enemies and deprived their security protection. Trump’s attack on democratic standards, with his range and speed, was breathtaking. Nevertheless, his satisfaction with his rule is still 45 percent. Democrats help Trump.
The party is distributed in the question of how strongly it should fight its deportations. A fundamental attitude would be to do everything that is needed to maintain the government of the law. Deportations should be done if a proper process is followed. On the contrary, sending troops to US streets is a fatal threat to federal democracy.
In Los Angeles this will not end
The fact that the US left speaks in many languages helps Trump because his party listens only to him. Have you seen the outrage of Republicans over Trump’s threat of focusing on Elon Musk’s commercial empire? Nor do I. This also applies to his attack on US law companies, foreign students, media conglomerates and scientific research.
This is likely to turn out the situation in Los Angeles: Ice is a Trump agency. Her agents do raids in restaurants, courts, retail centers and places where workers meet all over the country. Trump’s “big, beautiful [rozpočtový] The law will be earmarked $ 185 billion to promote immigration regulations and to run ICE, which is more than a year of United Kingdom and France’s annual military spending together.
Everywhere where ICE raid protests, Trump can send soldiers. Expect them soon in Chicago, San Francisco, Denver and other cities. Do not expect Trump to subside. His militant minions and deputy boss Stephen Miller wants to deport three thousand immigrants a day and calls resistance to ICE raids as “rebellion”.
The expulsion of such a number of people will require a lot of armed workforce. The economic account is reflected in the form of higher food prices and the cost of building houses. The tax on the rule of law and social stability in America will be incalculably higher.
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