Gosh, we cats were really trying to enjoy the weekend without paying too much attention to Benedict Donald. But then we were momentarily distracted by this awful White House ballroom story. Just for the record: The White House, unlike most foreign presidential palaces, is really quite modest — by design. But as we know from his tasteless New York apartments and Mar-a-Lago, Trump has no acquaintance with the concept of "modest." We have no idea how he's going to pull this off, but we assume that he won't be able to. The White House does not belong to him — it belongs to the American people.
More importantly, though, there's the Trumpy threat this weekend to deploy the National Guard — or even the military — against peaceful anti-ICE protesters in Los Angeles. "The federal government is moving to take over the California National Guard and deploy 2,000 soldiers," California Governor Gavin Newsom tweeted. "That move is purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions."
We've disagreed with Gavin recently, but he is spot-on here. And with 2028 ambitions, he probably welcomes a confrontation with Trump. But federalizing a state's National Guard under Title 10 only applies in situations of invasions, rebellions against the government's authority, or other situations in which the President can't fulfill his constitutional duty to enforce the law. One would think that a peaceful demonstration against ICE in Paramount, California — and there's some disagreement as to who actually torched that car or two — doesn't quality for Title 10. (Sorry to hair-split, but you really have to in cases like this.)
Even if Title 10 ever so glancingly applied, posse comitatus would still forbid the administration from deploying troops against American citizens. (See: Rutherford B. Hayes and the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. It pays to brush up on your Gilded Age history, ya know?)
The last time a President activated the National Guard was during the Civil Rights era. In 1965, LBJ federalized the Alabama Guard against segregationist Governor George Wallace. So, look at that history and decide whose side you'd want to be on. Johnson, as President, was defending democracy — not working against it.
Collateral damage from these anti-ICE demonstrations includes ABC reporter Terry Moran, who has been suspended by his network for tweeting a basic truth: that "round-em-up-and-ship-em-off" White House adviser Stephen Miller is a world-class hater. It is oh, so true. Did Moran cross a line? Maybe so. Are we in a space in which legacy media journalists need to cross lines? A thousand times yes. Stay safe next weekend, everyone. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.
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