Federal officials are investigating L.A. County\u2019s gun permitting policies<\/a>, and have sought to overturn a host of education, health and environmental regulations<\/a>. They have talked not only of enforcing federal laws for the benefit of California residents, but of showing up in full force \u2014 soldiers and all \u2014 to wrench control from the state\u2019s elected leaders.<\/p>\n Kristi Noem has lunch with National Guard troops at the Federal Building on Wilshire Boulevard on May 5 in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n (Luke Johnson\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n \u201cWe are not going away,\u201d Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said at a news conference<\/a> in Los Angeles last month. \u201cWe are staying here to liberate this city from the socialists and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country, and what they have tried to insert into this city.\u201d<\/p>\n The antagonism toward California is not entirely surprising, having been a feature of Trump\u2019s first term<\/a> and his recent presidential campaign<\/a>. And yet, the breadth and pace of the administration\u2019s attacks, aided by a Republican-controlled Congress and a U.S. Supreme Court convinced of executive power<\/a>, have stunned many \u2014 pleasing some and infuriating others.<\/p>\n \u201cTrump\u2019s been able to go much further, much faster than anyone would have calculated, with the assistance of the Supreme Court,\u201d said Bob Shrum, director of the USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future.<\/p>\n \u201cIn a second Trump term, he\u2019s clearly either feeling or acting more emboldened and testing the limits of his power, and Republicans in Congress certainly aren\u2019t doing anything to try to rein that in,\u201d said California Sen. Alex Padilla, who was forced to the ground and handcuffed<\/a> by federal agents after confronting Noem at her news conference. \u201cIt\u2019s enraging. It\u2019s offensive.\u201d<\/p>\n Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) is removed from the room after interrupting a news conference with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.<\/p>\n (Luke Johnson\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is clear after six months is we now have some measure of checks and balances in California, a counterweight to one-party supermajority control<\/a> at the state level,\u201d said Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin). \u201cFrom securing the border to reversing the ban on gas cars<\/a> to protecting girls\u2019 sports, balance and common sense are returning to our state.\u201d<\/p>\n Rob Stutzman, a longtime GOP strategist in California who is no fan of Trump, said the president\u2019s motivations for targeting California are obvious, as it \u201cis the contrast that he basically has built MAGA on.\u201d<\/p>\n Visuals of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents rounding up immigrants<\/a> in liberal California are red meat to the MAGA base, Stutzman said. \u201cWhat they\u2019ve been able to do in California is basically create the live TV show that they want.\u201d<\/p>\n But Trump is hardly the only politician who benefits from his administration being on a war footing with the nation\u2019s most populous blue state, Stutzman said. There is a \u201csymbiotic relationship that Democrats in California have with Trump,\u201d he said, and leaders such as Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also benefit politically when they\u2019re seen as standing up to the president.<\/p>\n \u201cIf not for Trump\u2019s assault on California, was Gavin Newsom in South Carolina?\u201d Stutzman asked, of what many viewed as an early presidential campaign stop<\/a> earlier this month. \u201cWould Karen Bass otherwise have been given a lifeline after her disastrous performance with the fires<\/a>?\u201d<\/p>\n Bass, in a statement to The Times, defended her record, saying both homelessness and homicides are down and fire recovery is moving quickly. She said the Trump administration was helpful with early fire response, but \u201cnow they\u2019ve assaulted our city\u201d with immigration raids \u2014 which is why L.A. has joined in litigation to stop them, as her \u201cnumber one job is to protect Angelenos.\u201d<\/p>\n Bob Salladay, a senior advisor to Newsom, dismissed the idea that battling Trump is in any way good for California or welcomed by its leaders. \u201cThat\u2019s not why we\u2019re fighting him,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re fighting him because what he\u2019s doing is immoral and illegal.\u201d<\/p>\n Protesters gather in front of City Hall to denounce the Trump administration while attending a \u201cGood Trouble Lives On\u201d demonstration on Thursday in Los Angeles. This is one of hundreds of Good Trouble protests happening around the country in honor of the late civil rights leader and Congressman John Lewis.<\/p>\n (Gina Ferazzi\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Salladay agreed, however, that the last six months have produced a stunning showdown over American values that few predicted \u2014 even with the conservative Project 2025 playbook laying out much of it in advance<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe knew it would be bad. We didn\u2019t know it would be this bad,\u201d Salladay said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t know it would be the president of the United States sending U.S. troops into an American city and taking away resources<\/a> from the National Guard for public theater.\u201d<\/p>\n What\u2019s being fought over?<\/p>\n When protests over early immigration raids erupted in scattered pockets of L.A. and downtown, Trump dramatized them as a grave threat to citywide safety<\/a>, in part to justify bringing in the military. Local officials say masked and militarized agents swarming Latino and other immigrant neighborhoods and racially profiling targets for detention have undermined safety far more than the protests ever did.<\/p>\n Trump has since pulled back<\/a> about half the troops, but thousands remain. A federal judge recently ordered<\/a> federal agents to stop using racial profiling to carry out indiscriminate arrests, but raids continue.<\/p>\n The Trump administration, meanwhile, is demanding California counties provide lists<\/a> of noncitizens in their jails.<\/p>\n Protesters walk onto the fields adjacent to the Glass House, where immigration raids took place July 10 in Camarillo.<\/p>\n (Julie Leopo \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n Beyond L.A., officials and industry leaders say immigration raids have badly spooked workers<\/a> in farming, construction, street vending<\/a> and other service sectors<\/a>, with some leaving the job for fear of being detained. Meanwhile, Trump\u2019s tariff war with trading partners has made it more difficult for some farmers<\/a> to purchase equipment and chemical supplies.<\/p>\n The Justice Department is suing the state<\/a> for allowing transgender girls to compete in girls\u2019 sports<\/a>, alleging such policies violate federal civil rights law. It is suing the state over an animal welfare law<\/a> protecting hens from being kept in small cages, blaming the policy for driving up the cost of eggs in violation of federal farming regulations. It is investigating L.A. County\u2019s gun permitting process<\/a>, suggesting excessive fees and wait times are violating people\u2019s gun rights.<\/p>\n Trump signed legislation<\/a> to undo California\u2019s aggressive limits on auto emissions and a landmark rule that would ban new gas-only car sales in the state by 2035. His administration just rescinded billions of dollars for a long-planned high-speed rail line<\/a> between Los Angeles and San Francisco, calling it a \u201cboondoggle.\u201d<\/p>\n Work continues on the California High Speed Rail, Hanford Viaduct.<\/p>\n (Robert Gauthier\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n The legal antagonism has cut in the opposite direction, as well, with California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta\u2019s office having sued the Trump administration more than 30 times in the last six months over a range of issues.<\/p>\n Bonta has sued over billions of dollars in cuts to education funding<\/a> and billions of dollars in cuts to medical research and development<\/a>. He has sued over Trump executive orders declaring that California must radically restrict voting access, over Trump\u2019s unilateral tariff scheme<\/a> and over clawbacks of funding and approvals for wind energy and electric vehicle charging stations.<\/p>\n Bonta called the Trump administration\u2019s targeting of the state \u201ca lot of show\u201d \u2014 and \u201cdisrespectful, inappropriate and unlawful.\u201d He noted a lot of wins in court for the state, but also acknowledged the administration has scored victories, too, particularly at the Supreme Court, which has temporarily cleared the way for mass layoffs of federal employees<\/a>, the dismantling of the Department of Education<\/a> and the undoing of birthright citizenship<\/a>.<\/p>\n But those rulings are \u201cjust procedural\u201d for now as litigation continues, Bonta stressed, and the fight continues.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are absolutely unapologetic, resolute, committed to meeting the Trump administration in court and beating them back each time they violate the law,\u201d Bonta said.<\/p>\n Who benefits?<\/p>\n After six months of entrenched political infighting between the U.S. and its largest state, who benefits?<\/p>\n Trump, officials in his administration and some state Republicans are adamant that it is good, hardworking, law-abiding people of California, who they allege have long suffered under liberal state policies that reward criminals and unauthorized immigrants.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat would Los Angeles look like without illegal aliens?\u201d Stephen Miller<\/a>, one of Trump\u2019s top policy advisors, recently asked on Fox News<\/a> \u2014 before suggesting, without proof, that it would have better healthcare and schooling for U.S. children and \u201cno drug deaths\u201d on the streets.<\/p>\n White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller arrive to a bill signing event in the East Room of the White House on Wednesday..<\/p>\n (Anna Moneymaker \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement to The Times that \u201cGavin Newscum\u201d \u2014 Trump\u2019s favorite insult \u2014 is \u201cdestroying\u201d the state, and that Trump \u201chas had to step in and save Californians from Gavin\u2019s incompetence.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFirst, when Newscum was chronically unprepared to address the January wildfires<\/a>, and more recently when he refused to stop violent, left-wing rioters from attacking federal law enforcement,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cThis doesn\u2019t even account for Newscum\u2019s radical, left-wing policies, which the Administration is working to protect Californians \u2014 and all Americans \u2014 from, like letting men destroy women\u2019s sports, or turning a blind eye to child labor exploitation<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump, she said, \u201cwill continue to stand up for Californians like a real leader, while Newsom sips wine in Napa.\u201d<\/p>\n Some Republicans in the state strongly agree, including Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, who is running for governor<\/a>. With Trump in office, Bianco said, \u201cthere\u2019s finally someone working and looking out for Californians\u2019 best interests.\u201d<\/p>\n He said Trump called in troops only because of the \u201cembarrassing\u201d failure of L.A. officials to maintain order. He said the only reason ICE is going after unauthorized immigrants in the streets \u2014 with some bystanders admittedly caught in the fray \u2014 is that California sanctuary laws prevent agents from just picking them up in jails<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is an absolute failure of a Democrat-led agenda and Democrat policy that is forcing the federal government to go into our neighborhoods looking for these criminals,\u201d Bianco said. \u201cCalifornians are being punished for it because of failed California leadership, not because of the federal government.\u201d<\/p>\n Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said Trump called in troops only because of the \u201cembarrassing\u201d failure of L.A. officials to maintain order.<\/p>\n (Gina Ferazzi\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Newsom, Bass and other liberal officials, of course, have framed Trump\u2019s actions in the state in very different terms.<\/p>\n In a recent filing in the federal case challenging the constitutionality of ICE\u2019s immigration tactics in L.A., California and 17 other liberal-led states<\/a> argued those tactics had left citizens and noncitizens afraid to go outside, turned \u201conce bustling neighborhoods into ghost towns\u201d and devastated local businesses.<\/p>\n State and local officials have said they are fighting the administration so aggressively because Trump\u2019s policies threaten billions in federal funding for the state in education<\/a>, healthcare<\/a>, transportation<\/a> and other sectors.<\/p>\n California Sen. Adam Schiff, a staunch adversary of Trump, said he has had particularly troubling conversations with farmers up and down the state, who are feeling the pain from Trump\u2019s immigration polices and tariffs acutely.<\/p>\n \u201cTheir workers are increasingly not showing up. Their raw materials are increasingly more expensive because of the tariffs. Their markets are shrinking<\/a> because of the recoil by other countries from this kind of indiscriminate turf war,\u201d Schiff said. \u201cFarmers are really in the epicenter of this.\u201d<\/p>\n So, too, Schiff said, are the millions of Californians who could be affected by the administration\u2019s decision to cut environmental funding<\/a> and curtail disaster preparation and relief in the state, including by hampering water management<\/a> and flood mitigation work and \u201cslow-walking\u201d wildfire relief<\/a> in L.A. <\/p>\n \u201cDonald Trump is the first U.S. president who doesn\u2019t believe that it\u2019s his job to represent the whole country \u2014 only the states that voted for him,\u201d Schiff said. \u201cThe president seems to have a particular, personal vendetta against California, which is obviously [a] deep disservice to the millions of residents in our state, no matter whom they voted for.\u201d<\/p>\n A \u2018model\u2019 for what\u2019s next?<\/p>\n During her Los Angeles news conference, Noem said that federal officials in L.A. were \u201cputting together a model and a blueprint\u201d that could be replicated elsewhere \u2014 an apparent warning against other blue cities and states bucking the administration.<\/p>\n California officials saw it exactly that way. Bass has accused the administration of \u201ctreating Los Angeles as a test case for how far it can go in driving its political agenda forward while pushing the Constitution aside<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n L.A. Mayor Karen Bass arrives at MacArthur Park on July 7 as federal agents staged there.<\/p>\n (Damian Dovarganes \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n What happens next, several political observers said, depends on whether the antagonism continues to work politically, and whether the administration starts acting on its threats to crack down even more.<\/p>\n When Bass showed up in person to object to heavily armed immigration agents storming through MacArthur Park<\/a> recently, U.S. Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino allegedly told her<\/a> that she and other L.A. officials and residents \u201cbetter get used to\u201d agents being in the city, who \u201cwill go anywhere, anytime we want in Los Angeles.\u201d Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin, when asked if Bass would be arrested, said they were \u201ckeeping everything on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump has suggested Newsom should be arrested, too, saying, \u201cI\u2019d do it.\u201d Padilla was taken forcefully to the ground and handcuffed at a Noem press event. Trump has accused Schiff of criminal fraud<\/a> for claiming primary residency in mortgage paperwork for a home in his district and one near his work in Washington, D.C., which Schiff called a baseless political attack.<\/p>\n Padilla said it\u2019s all to be expected from a Republican administration that hates and fears everything that his state stands for, but that Democrats aren\u2019t backing down and will continue to \u201corganize, organize, organize\u201d to defend Californians and win back power in the midterms.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not the fourth largest economy in the world despite our diversity and immigrant population, but because of it,\u201d Padilla said. \u201cDiversity and migrants doing well and making our country stronger is Donald Trump\u2019s worst nightmare \u2014 and that has made California his No. 1 target.\u201d<\/p>\n Federal immigration agents near MacArthur Park in the Westlake area on July 7.<\/p>\n (Carlin Stiehl\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Schiff said the administration\u2019s actions in California in the last six months are indeed producing \u201cthe TV show that Trump wanted to show his MAGA base,\u201d but \u201cit\u2019s a TV show that is not going over well with the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s approval numbers on immigration<\/a> are down, Schiff said, because Americans don\u2019t want to live in a country where landscapers, car wash employees and farmworkers with zero criminal convictions<\/a> are terrorized by masked agents in the streets and U.S. citizen children are ripped from their parents<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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