What Does Donald Trump’s Use of the National Guard Mean for our Democracy?

KQED's Forum

KQED

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.2 • 726 Ratings

🗓️ 12 August 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the past, a U.S. president deployed the National Guard on domestic soil to enforce laws or quash protests once every few decades in extremely rare circumstances. President Donald Trump has now done so twice in a matter of three months.. The first was in June to tamp down protests against his immigration policies in Los Angeles. A federal trial began Monday over whether Trump had the authority to order that deployment. Also on Monday, Trump announced sending the National Guards to Washington D.C. to fight crime and clear homeless shelters, despite the city reporting its lowest crime rate in 30 years. We’ll talk about how Trump is breaking precedents using federal troops for local law enforcement and what it means for our nation. Guests: Shawn Hubler, California correspondent, The New York Times Jenny Jarvie, national correspondent, The Los Angeles Times Laura Dickinson, professor, The George Washington University Law School Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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1:02.7	Donald Trump announced yesterday that he was deploying the National Guard in Washington, D.C., invoking a barrage of crime stats about the nation's capital.
1:12.4	He also mentioned Oakland by name and the federal trial about his deployment of the National Guard
1:19.6	in Los Angeles began this week.
1:22.1	We'll talk about these precedent-breaking deployments and what they mean for our nation's democracy.
1:27.9	That's all coming up next, right after this news. Welcome to Forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal.
1:51.7	It is not unprecedented to deploy the National Guard on domestic soil.
1:56.8	Presidents from both parties have done it, particularly during the civil rights era in the South.
2:01.3	But it was not and has not been a common occurrence.
2:06.2	Donald Trump has now deployed the National Guard twice in a few months, first in Los Angeles and now in Washington, D.C.
2:13.1	We'll talk about Donald Trump's stated rationale, the legal issues at play, and where this new version of Trumpism fits in the long American democratic experiment.
2:23.5	We're joined this morning by Sean Huber, California correspondent with the New York Times.
2:27.8	Welcome.
2:29.2	Hello.
2:29.9	We've also got Jenny Jarvey National Correspondent with the Los Angeles Times.
2:34.6	Welcome.
	...

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