Warren Condemns Presidential Use of National Guard, Forgets Key Lesson of History
Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, perched on a high rhetorical horse, condemned President Donald Trump’s decision to federalize the California National Guard and deploy them to Los Angeles to quell the anti-immigration enforcement riots.
“Donald Trump’s deployment of the military in Los Angeles over the objection of California leaders is an abuse of power and a dangerous escalation,” Warren posted Sunday on X, which marked the third day of rioting.
“It’s what you would see in authoritarian states and it must stop. Americans have the right to speak out and peacefully protest,” she added.
Donald Trump’s deployment of the military in Los Angeles over the objection of California leaders is an abuse of power and a dangerous escalation.
It’s what you would see in authoritarian states and it must stop.
Americans have the right to speak out and peacefully protest.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) June 8, 2025
If it were only people peacefully protesting, as Warren asserted, Trump would not have sent in the Guard, augmented on Monday by the U.S. Marines.
The truth is that many of these so-called “peaceful protesters” were assaulting law enforcement officers, burning and hurling rocks at police cars, looting stores, and otherwise causing mayhem.
Many anti-ICE rioters in Los Angeles repeatedly attempted to kill LAPD by throwing rocks down at them. Police cars were ruined.
Democrats shamelessly call this “peacefully protesting.” pic.twitter.com/Le31t7U2AH
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) June 9, 2025
California Gov. Gavin Newsom even sued Trump over his decision to send in the troops, calling it “an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism.”
Warren and Newsom clearly do not know their history well, including when presidents like Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy federalized the National Guard over Democratic governors’ objections when they refused to enforce the law.
Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National Guard in 1957 in response to Democratic Governor Orval Faubus refusing to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education integrating public schools in Little Rock.
Ike also sent in the 101st Airborne to augment the Guard, just to make sure federal law was enforced.
The mission was to escort nine black students into the segregated Central High School. President Eisenhower directed the 101st to protect the students and the school from protests. These students are now known as the Little Rock Nine. (2/2) #airassault #Army250 #250atCampbell pic.twitter.com/YzORY3ihQX
— 101st Airborne Div. (@101stAASLTDIV) May 30, 2025
Eisenhower addressed the nation from the Oval Office regarding the situation in Little Rock, saying, “In that city, under the leadership of demagogic extremists, disorderly mobs have deliberately prevented the carrying out of proper orders from a Federal court.”
“Whenever normal agencies prove inadequate to the task and it becomes necessary for the Executive Branch of the Federal Government to use its powers and authority to uphold Federal Courts, the President’s responsibility is inescapable,” he added.
“In accordance with that responsibility, I have today issued an Executive Order directing the use of troops under Federal authority to aid in the execution of Federal law at Little Rock, Arkansas,” Eisenhower said.
Similarly, Kennedy federalized the Guard to ensure the integration of the University of Alabama in 1963, over the objections of Democratic Gov. George Wallace.
There is an iconic picture of Wallace standing at the school house door, so to speak, seeking to prevent two black students from attending the college.
Alabama National Guard Gen. Henry Graham approached Wallace and said, “It is my sad duty to ask you to step aside, on order of the president of the United States.”
The governor made a brief statement and complied, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Alabama Governor George Wallace rejected *desegregation* at the University of Alabama on June 11, 1963.
👉🏼 President John F. Kennedy issued Executive Order 11111, which federalized the Alabama National Guard.
General Henry Graham commanded Wallace to step aside. https://t.co/KceO1pKOIP pic.twitter.com/iaE9r6SLWn— Ken Zimmern (@KenZimmern) June 8, 2025
Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were doing their job, removing criminal illegal aliens from the streets on Friday when the unrest began. Trump gave Newsom and Los Angeles Democratic Mayor Karen Bass two days to get the situation in hand.
They failed, so he acted, deploying the Guard and a unit of Marines.
Trump explained Tuesday from the Oval Office that he learned a lesson waiting for Democratic governors to act during the summer of 2020 riots, as cities burned. “I said to myself, ‘If that stuff happens again, we’ve got to make faster decisions,’” he recalled.
And in this case, two days of waiting was enough before he sent in the Guard.
“I’ve been here before and I went right by every rule,” says @POTUS on deploying the National Guard.
“I waited for governors to say, ‘Send in the National Guard’. They wouldn’t do it … I said to myself, ‘If that stuff happens again, we’ve got to make faster decisions.'” pic.twitter.com/bQAaIkbSCn
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 10, 2025
Warren may call it authoritarianism, but Trump is fulfilling his sworn constitutional duties to uphold the law, like Eisenhower and Kennedy did before him.
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