California Governor Gavin Newsom attacked the U.S. Marines and National Guard on Saturday as “bringing war to the American people” in trashing their recent mission to restore order to the streets of Los Angeles.
His purpose: to attack President Donald Trump, who is campaigning for the Nobel Peace Prize by trying to resolve conflicts around the world.
Trump federalized the California National Guard in June, over Newsom’s objections, when local law enforcement struggled to suppress rioting by activists opposed to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in L.A. The anti-ICE activists had attacked police and government buildings in the city center, and clearly intended to spread the violence, even blocking major highways.
Trump sent in the Guard and then the Marines to protect federal property and to protect ICE officers during enforcement operations. The effort succeeded in stopping the anti-ICE riots, and the troops were withdrawn.
Newsom, trying to boost his Democratic presidential primary prospects in 2028, took a cheap shot at Trump.
The problem with describing the Marines as bringing “war to the American people” is that Newsom conflates peacekeeping — guarding government buildings, no less — with a mission of war. In his description, the Marines are necessarily warlike, a danger to the American people — rather than protectors of local residents.
As for the Nobel Peace Prize, Trump is responding exactly to the incentives Alfred Nobel established in his will, to offer a reward “to the person who has done the most or best to advance fellowship among nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and the establishment and promotion of peace congresses.”
Trump has helped resolve more than half a dozen armed conflicts in his first seven months in office alone. He also knows — as apparently Newsom does not — that sometimes the use or threat of force can do as much, or more, to promote peace as the withdrawal of forces, when the purpose is to restrain evil and disorder.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
