June 10, 2025

President Donald Trump’s response to the Los Angeles protests isn’t just an opportunity to battle with a Democratic governor over his signature issue. The president sees it as a chance to redo his first-term response to a wave of civil unrest.

As protests broke out after the killing of George Floyd in 2020, Trump’s instincts were to deploy thousands of active-duty troops across U.S. cities. But some administration officials resisted the idea and reportedly urged the president against invoking the Insurrection Act to do so.

Five years later, Trump sees something familiar as protests rage across Los Angeles in response to the administration’s immigration raids. He moved quickly to deploy 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines to support law enforcement, a decision he credited on Tuesday with preventing a “great City” from “burning to the ground.” And he repeatedly signaled his willingness to invoke the Insurrection Act if protests continue to escalate.

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