The Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, calls for torture against California's Governor Gavin Newsom. Meanwhile, Marines are marching into Los Angeles, violence is escalating in Austin, and nationwide protests are set to culminate on June 14. America is staggering. Sometimes a single sentence is enough to shake a political system. "He should be tarred and feathered" - that's what Mike Johnson, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, said publicly about California's Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom. It wasn’t a slip of the tongue, not a misunderstood joke, but a deliberate call for humiliation, for violence - for lynch justice.
While Johnson makes such threats, the military is rolling through the streets of Los Angeles. Marines, personally deployed by President Donald Trump, arrived on Tuesday. More than a dozen buses left Twentynine Palms, and 700 active-duty Marines were stationed in the city within hours - in response to protests against the escalation of ICE raids in California.
Protests that have been mostly peaceful - and yet are being used as a pretext for deploying armed troops into a major American city. The order was issued against the explicit will of the California governor and local authorities.
But Trump is no longer concerned with order. What he wants is a show of force - against those who dissent. Against cities that offer refuge. Against governors who resist. And against people he simply dehumanizes as “illegal invaders.”
Resistance is growing. In Atlanta, hundreds of demonstrators gathered Monday in front of the ICE building downtown. In Austin, Texas, there were serious clashes. Four police officers were injured - three by thrown rocks, one during an arrest, according to Police Chief Lisa Davis. The state used tear gas, and the protests were violently dispersed. Davis announced further demonstrations in the city center for the upcoming weekend. "We support peaceful protest," she said. "But when protest turns into violence, when rocks and bottles are thrown - that will not be tolerated."
But what is violence in a country where the Speaker of Parliament calls for the tarring and feathering of a democratically elected governor? What is escalation in a country where the president personally deploys troops against his own population? There are opposing voices - quiet, but principled. David Valadao, Republican congressman from California’s San Joaquin Valley, showed backbone. On social media, he declared: "I support the constitutional right to peacefully protest. But the violence and vandalism in Los Angeles is unacceptable, and I stand with our law enforcement officers." But Valadao didn’t stop at the usual rhetoric. He also criticized the ICE raids: "I remain concerned about ongoing ICE operations throughout California and will continue my conversations with the administration - urging them to prioritize the removal of known criminals over the hardworking people who have lived peacefully in the Valley for years."
While Trump talks about “migrant uprisings” and promises to “liberate” Los Angeles, people on the ground see no invasion. What they see are neighbors, coworkers, friends - vanished fathers, arrested mothers, children in fear.
June 14 - Trump’s 79th birthday and the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army - could become a turning point. Major demonstrations are announced in dozens of cities. In California, in New York, in Texas. In Los Angeles, a march on the Federal Detention Center is planned. In San Diego, a “Wall of Justice” will be erected. In San Francisco, a human chain is set to symbolically surround ICE detention centers. The question is no longer whether this president governs in an authoritarian manner. The question is how much further he will go - and how long a country that calls itself free will let him. America stands at a crossroads. Those who remain silent now are giving consent. Those who merely watch are complicit. Because when a government speaker calls for torture, protest is no longer the problem - the government itself is.
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