The Witness Chronicles, 6/12/25

LA is not rioting

Photo by Jack Finnigan on Unsplash

The Real Waste, Fraud, and Corruption

Trump’s $134 million dollar deception of the American people

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the military occupation of Los Angeles by thousands of US soldiers will cost us $134 million, a total waste that has the hallmark of a major step towards a takeover of the government. This week Trump’s military parade will cost at least $40 million and as 70 ton tanks roll down DC streets they will likely cause millions of dollars of damage to the Capitol’s infrastructure.

It’s no big surprise that we are seeing displays of military might here in the US where they are unjustified and unneeded, except as excuses for declaring a national emergency and giving the White House total control, a coup, in other words.

As with everything Trump, it is not subtle, it is completely over the top. Yes, some ICE protests degenerated into violence but it is up to the mayor and state governor to request help if they need it. That didn’t happen and it is unprecedented for the President to send in the California National Guard without a formal request from the California government.

The Marines sent in by Hegseth are illegal as a law called posse commitatus stipulates that the American military cannot be used against citizens on American soil. But we know Trump thinks he is above the law and no longer pretends anything he is doing is legal.

The cracked logic behind this starts with the racism that has permeated the Executive Branch and it is no accident that Los Angeles, a majority non-white city, is the target of these actions. At this point virtually every Trump decision is underlined by a white suprematist belief system, playing into the unfounded fears of white Americans.

The total immigration ban on twelve countries enacted this week, with no justification, is also based on that same racist agenda as all twelve are largely non-white, which in Trump world means they are criminal and terrorist havens. It is not coincidental that none of those nations represents any serious source of conflict with us and none are major business partners, a factor always weighed by Trump.

This the road downwards to autocracy is steepening and we are on the verge of careening into a dictatorship run by a cadre of maniacs. There is a silver lining in this. These actions are largely unpopular among Americans who do not like the visuals of troops in our major city targeting citizens in the name of a fabricated crisis blown out of proportion relative to its actual tiny violent fringe.

Who are those propagating violence? When autonomous cars were set afire, it was young men who then took selfies in front of their destruction, not those protesting the blanket deportations taking place at schools, courts, and workplaces across American cities. Legitimate protestors know they lose their legitimacy when resorting to violence. But even with the flare ups of violence the President’s response is wildly exaggerated. We are not facing obliteration, regardless of his endless social media rants.

More protests are popping up across the country as anger grows over the lawless chaos Trump’s actions, not over a few disgruntled youth. As with everything in this administration, they are highly politicized. LA and California are deeply blue and Trump lost there by a wide margin, which means they are the enemies.

This is all too convenient for Trump who has threatened declarations of an insurrection for years and now seems prepared to make good on his threats, despite LAPD saying they have things under control and do not want help. Meanwhile 4000 National Guards and 700 Marines are twiddling their thumbs on the streets of the city with nothing to do.

As I am writing this, CBS News is showing a map that depicts the actual size of the protest zone and it is little more than a single city block around the downtown Federal Building. A stunning visual of how Trump is blowing a small event into a major riot for his own purposes.

The timing is a convenient distraction from the wreckage of the economy by Trump’s tariffs as prices start rising across the country and inventories in stores shrink, while there is no sign of the ninety ‘deals’ in ninety days the Administration bragged about when launching the tariffs, amid the uncertainty that is paralyzing business worldwide.

Trump’s deportations are desperate attempt to shore up the only winning message he has left, but his numbers are dropping on immigration as we see the unlawful police state actions his ICE thugs are enacting all over the country. The reality is that illegal immigration has dropped precipitously as those who might have tried it realize this is no longer a land of opportunity, a land of the free.

But there is a huge reality behind all of this. Immigrants, legal and illegal, do jobs that citizens often do not want to do. The hospitality, farm, landscaping, building, and other critical businesses are dependent on that labor. Their fears of continuing to work will only cripple the economy further. You’d think a man who owns hotels and golf courses would know that, but he only knows what he believes, regardless of the actual reality.

How is this playing out with public opinion? Not well at all. Trump’s approval numbers on all his major issues are negative and getting worse. Last night Heather Cox Richardson broke down the numbers across the issues and he is deep underwater. Definitely worth a quick read.

We know he keeps track of these polls but it is increasingly obvious that his extreme actions are escalating. A sign of desperation or an attempt to grab as much power as possible before voters and Americans in general finally wake up and start enforcing the law of the land? We’ll see.

Information is power and sharing it is resistance.

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Martin