The Insurrection Act is back on the table
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.1 • 5.3K Ratings
🗓️ 9 June 2025
⏱️ 12 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Over the weekend, President Trump did just that — in California. He ordered 2,000 National Guard members to Los Angeles, where people are protesting federal immigration raids.
Today, governor Gavin Newsom said California is suing the Trump administration for what the governor called an unlawful action.
Trump called the protesters "insurrectionists"; Vice President JD Vance suggested they constituted an "invasion." What does that signal about where the situation in California is headed? We ask Juliette Kayyem, a former assistant secretary of Homeland Security in the Obama administration.
For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Email us at [email protected].
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The last time, President Trump wanted to send active duty troops to American cities, his |
| 0:05.1 | Secretary of Defense publicly disagreed. |
| 0:07.6 | The option to use active duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter |
| 0:11.7 | of last resort and only in the most urgent and dire of situations. We are not in one of those |
| 0:18.5 | situations now. That's former Defense Secretary Mark Esper in the summer of 2020 as protests swept |
| 0:24.8 | across the country after the murder of George Floyd. |
| 0:27.8 | And Esper told NPR in 2022 that behind the scenes, Trump suggested going even further to quell |
| 0:34.4 | protests. |
| 0:35.7 | Esper recounted a conversation that included Ben Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Millie. |
| 0:40.5 | He looked frankly at General Millie and said, can't you just shoot them? |
| 0:43.7 | Just shoot them in the legs or something. |
| 0:45.8 | And it was a question in the form of a suggestion in a form of a question. |
| 0:52.9 | And we were just all taken aback at that moment |
| 0:55.6 | as this issue just hung very heavily in the air. Trump has called that claim a complete lie. |
| 1:01.5 | Esper told NPR he thought about resigning, but ultimately stayed on the job because he |
| 1:05.5 | worried about who would replace him. I was fairly confident that the president would replace me |
| 1:09.7 | with an uber loyaltist, if you will, who would do exactly what he wanted. Back in 2020, Trump |
| 1:14.7 | eventually dropped the active-duty troops in the streets idea. Well, five years and one Trump |
| 1:20.8 | re-election later, it's back on the table. Trump has already deployed California National Guard units to Los Angeles over the loud objection of the state's governor Gavin Newsom. |
| 1:33.2 | It's in response to protests against federal immigration raids in the city. |
| 1:36.8 | You got violent people, and we're not going to let him get away with it. |
| 1:41.2 | That was Trump on Sunday before boarding Air Force won. |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 21 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.