Trump wants to use the U.S. military as his "personal police force."
"President Trump wants this confrontation partially because he wants to emphasize the issue of immigration enforcement. But more...because he wants to politicize the U.S. military and legitimize using it as a law enforcement tool, which is incredibly dangerous.
...
"...we had an actual insurrection on January 6th here at the Capitol. People were actually trying to stop the election of a president. They were threatening to kill elected officials, including Vice President Pence. That was an actual insurrection that the president chose to ignore. And...he has pardoned all of the people involved and downplayed that event.
"...what was going on in Los Angeles? There was a protest. The protest was fine. The violence that erupted out of it was not fine. But again, local law enforcement could have handled that. Now, I think Senator Fetterman has a point. We should condemn protests when they violate the law. [...] Both things can be true. It can be true that protesters should not damage property, threaten people. And it can also be true that the president, calling in the U.S. military [...] is attempting to use the military and exercise a level of control over this country that our Constitution has clearly said no president should do. We should be worried about the authoritarian approach President Trump has taken.
"The president should de-escalate and the protesters should de-escalate as well."
-Rep. Adam Smith, D-Washington
