Let’s get something straight: I was there yesterday — Tuesday — standing with thousands of peaceful Angelenos exercising their constitutional rights. We chanted, we marched, and we protested — lawfully, peacefully, and with purpose. And for that, Donald Trump called in the National Guard and is now threatening to send in the U.S. Marines.
Yes, National Guard. In downtown Los Angeles. Because apparently, peaceful protesting ICE raids is now a national security threat.
This isn’t about safety. It’s about spectacle. It’s about Trump playing dictator-in-chief, using taxpayer-funded troops as extras in his dystopian political theater — and stomping all over the First Amendment in the process.
Let’s be clear: the protests were overwhelmingly nonviolent. The LAPD said so. The Governor of California said so. Even the Chief of Police asked, in so many words, “What the hell are these soldiers doing here?”
But Trump? He overrode the governor. Declared a "rebellion" where none existed. And sent in troops under a legal provision that hasn’t been used like this since the civil rights era — when presidents were fighting for equality, not against it.
ICE is rounding up workers outside Home Depots. Peaceful protesters are getting tear-gassed. Union leaders are being arrested and hospitalized. And now we have soldiers patrolling American streets like it’s Fallujah.
Why? Because cruelty is the brand. Chaos is the strategy. And fear is the fuel.
When I was driving down to LA from CA-41, Fox News was breathlessly reporting that the city was being “destroyed” and “overrun by violent mobs.” Trump was claiming that people had been killed-WTF? But what I saw? A peaceful downtown, calm like any other city in America. Frankly, I’ve seen more mayhem at a Dodgers–Giants game than I did at yesterday’s protests — if you think downtown LA was out of control, you’ve clearly never tried to score a Dodger Dog in the seventh inning.
And let’s not mince words — Trump is no longer operating as a constitutional president. He is standing at the banks of the Rubicon. If he crosses it — if he fully uses military force to crush peaceful dissent and silence lawful protest — then federal agencies like the U.S. military, ICE, the FBI, and Homeland Security will be legally and morally obligated to disobey his unlawful orders. That’s not insubordination — that’s the Constitution speaking louder than a would-be king.
Trump wants the optics: boots on the ground, tanks in the streets, and protesters framed as “insurrectionists.” He’s not defending democracy — he’s auditioning for autocracy.
And while he's playing strongman, immigrants across L.A. are living in terror. Parents are afraid to take their kids to school. Workers are vanishing on their way to jobs. Families are hiding in their own homes.
This is not America.
This is what happens when a president sees dissent as disloyalty, and democracy as a nuisance to be crushed. When troops become props. When ICE becomes his personal militia. When governors get steamrolled and truth gets trampled.
Let’s not sugarcoat it: this is authoritarianism, full stop.
If we don’t rise up — peacefully, legally, loudly — we will lose the soul of this country.
I'm Dave Karson, a Democrat running for Congress in California’s 41st District. I don’t just believe in the Constitution — I’ve worn the uniform to defend it. And I will never stop fighting to protect it from those who treat it like a script they can shred between commercial breaks.
Join me. Stand up. Speak out. Because if we don’t defend our rights now, we may not have them later.
www.karsonforcongress.com