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The Trump administration sends 700 Marines to Los Angeles amid protests over the assault on alleged illegal immigration to test the boundaries of his enforcement.
The move comes just hours after California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom sued Donald Trump for his previous decision to deploy National Guard forces to thwart the protest that began over the weekend.
Over the weekend, Trump moved the California State Guard to the “federal government” by shifting control of the military from state to state control. Hundreds of security guards arrived in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday, using tear gas and rubber bullets against the crowds assembled last week to protest the arrests of dozens of people in the city.
Newsom and state attorney general Rob Bonta yesterday accused Trump of “creating fear and fear.” In a statement they wrote: “This is a manufactured crisis that will allow him to take over the state’s militia, and undermine the very foundations of our Republic.”
Trump claimed that Los Angeles was “completely wiped out” without the National Guard. He also approved the idea of Tom Homan, acting director of immigration customs enforcement, arrested Newsom and said, “If I were Tom, I would do that.”
Stephen Miller, the architect of the White House’s aggressive immigration policy, said the “fight to save civilization” took place on the streets of California’s most populous cities.
Meanwhile, military veterans opposed Trump’s deployment of soldiers to protests in Los Angeles.
Major General Paul Eaton, who led the operation to train Iraqi forces during the US invasion of Iraq, told FT that Trump’s orders were “an exhibition of the president’s hub-harmed” and “a misuse of enforcement.”
Ryan Enos, a government professor at Harvard University, said the deployment of the National Guard in the majority of liberal Los Angeles was “clearly made as a show of authoritarian power.”
“In contrast to the locations in Red State, there is no policy reason (why the administration) to target locations in Los Angeles,” he said.
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Trump’s explicit call for “non-traditional” contractors to help build “golden dome” missile shields for the United States has bolded Silicon Valley’s attempts to shake up the military industrial complex decades ago.
Investors have poured more than $150 billion into defense startups since 2021, but US defense budgets are overwhelmingly spent on legacy companies like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, according to Pitchbook.
But in a hurry to develop Trump’s Golden Dome, technology companies, including Microsoft and Peter Tiel’s data intelligence company Palantir, have seen the opportunity to claim a larger share of the Pentagon’s funds.
During Trump’s first term, Kari Bingen, who served as assistant director of intelligence and security, said “the reality is that we need legacy contractors and technology groups” to create the complex layer of technology and weapons systems needed for the project.
Inspired by Israel’s “Iron Dome,” the plan aims to protect the United States from a new generation of ballistic and hypernic missiles using sensors, space-based interceptors and generator AI. Critics argue that it is unnecessary, unproven and expensive, and can lead to a dangerous global arms race.
Trump’s Pentagon views defense technology startups as “essential to shape the future of missile defense” due to the rapid development of artificial intelligence and the relative speed and low cost of commercial innovation.
Meanwhile, legacy defense players highlight existing features and distribution records. For example, Robert Fleming, head of Northrop’s space division, emphasized the importance of distinguishing between “ability” and “aspiration.”
“We’re committed to creating technology and strategic innovation at Lockheed Martin,” said John Clark, head of technology and strategic innovation at Lockheed Martin.
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