Protests in LA: Posse Comitatus is Long Over.
Unf*cking The Republic
UNFTR Media
4.9 • 683 Ratings
🗓️ 14 June 2025
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Donald Trump overrode Governor Gavin Newsom to federalize the California National Guard to police the streets of Los Angeles. Protests over ICE’s deportation tactics are growing, prompting the Trump administration to leverage extreme authority over the protests, with Pentagon head Pete Hegseth warning that he will call in the Marines if necessary. All of this calls into question the limits of presidential authority in domestic civil disturbances and whether Posse Comitatus is still the law of the land. While it’s still on the books, it has been effectively gutted over the past 30 years by multiple administrations through procedural changes to the U.S. Code that have gone largely unnoticed.
Chapters
Intro: 00:00:52
Chapter One: Defining Presidential Authority. 00:03:15
Chapter Two: Timeline to Total Authority. 00:09:45
Chapter Three: Handing the Keys to the “Fascist in Chief.” 00:16:08
Epilogue: De Facto Nullification of Posse Comitatus. 00:18:48
Post Show Musings: 00:21:01
Resources
Public Intelligence: DoD Directive 3025.12 Military Assistance for Civil Disturbances (MACDIS)
Department of Defense: DoDI 3025.21, February 27, 2013, Incorporating Change 1 on February 8, 2019
Gov Info: Federal Register, Volume 78 Issue 71 (Friday, April 12, 2013)
Department of Defense: DoD Directive 3025.12
AP News: What to know about the protests over Trump's immigration crackdown in LA and other cities
POLITICO: Newsom blasts deployment of National Guard to LA as ‘purposefully inflammatory’
TIME: Trump Sparks Backlash Ordering National Guard to LA Protests
U.S. Code: Positive Law Codification
Legal Information Institute: 19 U.S. Code § 1677 - Definitions; special rules
U.S. Code: uscode.house.gov
The New York Times: Newsom Criticizes Hegseth for Saying Marines Could be Mobilized in California
Legal Information Institute: 18 U.S. Code § 1385 - Use of Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Space Force as posse comitatus
Bonnie Baker: The Origins of the Posse Comitatus
NPR: Trump expands military use at the southern border. Are there legal limits?
UNFTR Resources
Video: LA Protests: Is this the END OF POSSE COMITATUS?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Listen to us talk, we're a world renowns, download our podcast, where you will consume all the doom and gloom from 99 and max. |
| 0:20.5 | Many sound design |
| 0:22.5 | always inspires to your heart's desire |
| 0:26.5 | hey man you know there's nothing that we lack |
| 0:29.6 | past your ears and to your mind through the heart all the facts |
| 0:34.6 | on your podcasting app comes a basic white man with a rusty microphone in his red right hand. |
| 0:52.9 | Donald Trump federalized California's National Guard and is called in Marines to police the streets |
| 0:58.6 | of Los Angeles. This is no longer a drill. This is happening. |
| 1:05.6 | UNFDR. You know, years ago, I was part of a reporting team that uncovered a procedural change to the U.S. Code that essentially gave the President of the United States unlimited authority to send military into the streets. |
| 1:24.1 | The year was 2013, and the President was Obama. |
| 1:28.2 | It was one of the biggest stories that I worked on, and as a result of our reporting, absolutely nothing changed. |
| 1:34.8 | In fact, it's only gotten worse since that time. |
| 1:38.1 | Yes, I was there. I remember it well. |
| 1:41.0 | Our contention was that this unilateral procedural update upended 130 years of precedent rooted in post-Civil War reconstruction legislation. |
| 1:51.2 | In doing so, it put a tremendous amount of faith in the office of the president to wield authority with the utmost care. |
| 1:58.4 | Now, it was generally believed back then that Barack Obama was measured and steady, which |
| 2:02.9 | we can debate and practice. |
| 2:04.8 | But the real question was, what happens if we elect a madman to the highest office in the land? |
| 2:10.6 | And he's given direct access and authority to deploy the military on the streets of U.S. |
| 2:16.2 | cities. At the time we spoke to Congresspeople, the spokesperson for the Pentagon, and others who basically |
| 2:22.6 | said, eh, never happened. |
| 2:25.7 | Fast forward to the streets of L.A. in 2025. |
... |
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