Trump is provoking LA to fire up his base

By goading California's protesters — and its leaders — to defy him, the President is mobilising Maga.

- Harold Meyerson

History sometimes needs a push. In sending his immigration police to disrupt Los Angeles, US President Donald Trump recognises this. He can now use the predictable backlash to seize more power.

Mr Trump's administration already stands out historically for aggregating powers to itself that the US Constitution explicitly vests in Congress. The Constitution does empower the president to deploy the army domestically, but only if he declares the nation to be in a state of insurrection, as Abraham Lincoln did in the 1860s. The last time the Insurrection Act was invoked without a state governor's consent was by Lyndon Johnson in 1965 to protect civil rights marchers in Alabama.

On June 8, Mr Trump spoke about the insurrection ostensibly under way. At the time, the protesters in California numbered fewer than 200 — objecting to federal immigration agents rounding up allegedly undocumented immigrants.

Mr Trump, however, had already put California's National Guard under his command so he could deploy them.

The President has repeatedly claimed that the agents are arresting convicted felons and gang members, although the numbers belie that claim. On June 6, agents swept through downtown Los Angeles' fashion district, where the immigrant workforce is largely composed of seamstresses. On June 7, they swarmed a Home Depot store in a Latino working-class suburb, targeting immigrant day labourers seeking construction jobs.