How Trump is using Los Angeles to expose Democratic divisions

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Donald Trump made a cunning political move.

By deploying the US military to crack down on protests against his mass deportation efforts, he’s playing to his strengths with voters and exposing Democrats’ rifts over immigration and policing.

The party has struggled to form coherent messaging on all sorts of issues since losing the White House to Trump, and immigration — one of Trump’s strongest issues on the campaign trail — is no exception.

Right now Democrats are trying to stand strong in their opposition against Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement and the deployment of US military against protesters, while avoiding the perception that they support violence on the streets of the country’s second-largest city.

California Democrats have insisted that the protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful, but it’s a hard message to get across when scenes of looting and vandalism are on television and in social media feeds. Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass also declared a local emergency and imposed a curfew. 

In Washington, party members are divided on how to respond.

Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the US Senate, called Trump’s actions “alarmingly authoritarian.” But others in the party are airing Democrats’ dirty laundry.

In a social media post, Senator John Fetterman said Democrats lost “the moral high ground” when they refused to “condemn setting cars on fire, destroying buildings and assaulting law enforcement”.

In response, progressive stalwart Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a US House member, told CNN: “I think we should absolutely condemn the violence of ripping apart families, of ICE breaking the law . . . [if] Senator Fetterman or anybody else is concerned with law and order, we should be looking at one of the most lawbreaking agencies and administrations that we have seen.”

There are signs of division on the Republican side, too.

“I remain concerned about ongoing ICE operations throughout CA and will continue my conversations with the administration, urging them to prioritise the removal of known criminals over the hardworking people who have lived peacefully in the Valley for years,” David Valadao, a Republican congressman from California, posted on X this week.

And a survey conducted by Quinnipiac University over the weekend and released yesterday found that just 43 per cent of US voters approved of Trump’s handling of immigration issues, while 54 per cent disapproved.

The latest headlines

• Trump’s latest trade threats pushed the dollar to its lowest level in three years on Thursday amid rising worries over trade and geopolitics.

• Oil prices rose sharply yesterday after the US defence department authorised dependants of service members in parts of the Middle East to leave the region. 

• Trump said the US and China’s deal to restore their trade war truce was “done” after two days of marathon negotiations in London.

• Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon has launched a review of the Aukus submarine deal with the UK and Australia, throwing the security pact into doubt amid heightened tension with China.

• The US Environmental Protection Agency has begun to dismantle rules restricting pollution from power plants.

What we’re hearing

Republicans in the US Senate are not completely on board with Trump’s cornerstone “big, beautiful” tax bill.

Senator Ron Johnson, a fiscal hawk who represents Wisconsin, has warned that there are growing concerns among Republicans about the legislation’s fiscal impact: they want deeper spending cuts.

Johnson told the FT’s Lauren Fedor and James Politi that to clinch his crucial “yea vote”, the White House would have to give him ironclad guarantees that there would be a second major bill before the 2026 midterm elections that would slash more federal spending.

“I need to be assured that there will be another bite of the apple. We will have another must-pass budget reconciliation process here in Congress,” Johnson said. “This is our opportunity, and I just don’t think we can blow it . . . I am digging my heels in.”

If Johnson votes “nay”, it could kill the bill’s progress. Republicans only have a three-seat majority in the upper chamber.

Johnson, one of the loudest voices on Capitol Hill calling for deeper cuts, has said spending should revert to pre-pandemic levels.

“There are plenty of senators that are concerned about this,” he said. “We are supportive of the direction of the bill. It just doesn’t go far enough” and “more and more people are aware of these kind of problems”.

Viewpoints

• Peter L Hays thinks the feud between Trump and SpaceX chief Elon Musk is a wake-up call on space and global security, proof that vital aspects of US defence should not hinge on one billionaire executive. 

• As the US makes clear it’s no longer a reliable destination for academic investment for Asian students, it is risking budget shortfalls, tuition increases, programme cuts, faculty lay-offs, and a decrease in alumni donations, writes June Yoon.

• With the deployment of Marines to Los Angeles, we are witnessing the attempted conversion of the US’s constitutional republic into an arbitrary dictatorship, the consequences of which are unclear, says Martin Wolf.

• China beat Trump in the trade battle before it even started by leveraging the US’s desire for rare earths, according to Alan Beattie.