I've clearly been thinking about this fact all day.

I can't get it out of my mind.

Right now, there are more troops deployed to Los Angeles than there are deployed in Syria and Iraq combined.

Let me just repeat that because I've just been thinking about this all day since one of our amazing producers shared this with me.

There are more troops deployed to Los Angeles than there are

deployed in Syria and Iraq combined. And right now, Donald Trump is also doing everything he can

to make Los Angeles look and feel like a war zone. That's on purpose. That's what he's trying to do.

Today, NBC News counted 12 Black Hawk helicopters sitting on a tarmac at an airport in Los Angeles.

That is not normal to state the obvious.

Today, we also got reports that the Department of Homeland Security has been flying predator drones over Los Angeles to surveil the protests.

Overall, as I was just talking about with Chris, Trump has deployed 4,000

federalized National Guard troops and 700 active duty Marines to Los Angeles. And the reality

on the ground is that the protests that Trump sent these thousands of members of the military

to deal with are both largely peaceful and primarily isolated within an incredibly small

section of the city. You see that tiny speck on the map? That is the area we're talking about.

And that is the area that's once again under curfew tonight. It's basically about one square

mile, covering a few blocks in downtown L.A.

And yet, Donald Trump has sent 4,700 troops into the city, a city where the police, the mayor,

who don't always agree, by the way, and the governor all do not want them there.

And as Governor Gavin Newsom said just last night during our show, California may be first,

but it clearly won't end there.

Other states are next.

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