The crisis unfolding in Los Angeles isn’t about immigration enforcement or civil unrest — it’s about a president deliberately manufacturing confrontation to expand his authority.
President Trump’s illegal deployment of Marines and threats against state officials represent a calculated strategy to bait opponents into escalating responses that justify even greater executive overreach. The real emergency isn’t in California’s streets; it’s in the Oval Office, and it demands an immediate, coordinated response from every level of American government.
Trump’s plan in Los Angeles is becoming clear: violate the law brazenly, provoke pushback, then use that pushback to justify further lawlessness. His deployment of Marines without invoking the Insurrection Act violates the Posse Comitatus Act, but it also serves a darker purpose. By putting military forces on American streets illegally, he’s creating conditions that invite confrontation. When protesters inevitably respond to military presence, Trump will claim vindication for his “emergency” powers.
It’s a dangerous feedback loop designed to normalize authoritarian governance through manufactured crisis.
This is strategic provocation. Every illegal order, every constitutional violation, every threat against state officials is calculated to generate the very chaos Trump claims to be solving. The more opposition he faces, the more “emergency” authority he will claim. The more governors resist, the more he can portray federalism as rebellion. The more courts push back, the more he can paint judicial review as obstruction.
Breaking this cycle requires recognizing Trump’s strategy and refusing to play his game. The response must be swift, coordinated and unambiguously committed to non-violent constitutional resistance. Here’s what needs to happen immediately.
First, protesters must maintain absolute non-violence. This is perhaps the most critical element. Trump is counting on violent confrontation to justify his illegal military deployment. Every act of violence, every thrown bottle, every aggressive encounter with federal forces plays directly into his strategy. Protesters must make crystal clear to any observer that military force against peaceful citizens represents grotesque governmental overreach. The contrast between peaceful assembly and military occupation must be so stark that no reasonable person can justify the latter.
Second, the courts must act with unprecedented speed. California’s lawsuit challenging the National Guard federalization cannot languish in normal judicial timelines. Federal judges must recognize that constitutional violations happening in real time require rapid judicial response. Emergency injunctions, expedited hearings and immediate rulings are not just appropriate — they’re essential to prevent Trump from building momentum through delay. Every day courts allow illegal deployments to continue is another day Trump normalizes military governance of civilian affairs.
Third, the media must refuse the distraction. Trump’s provocations are designed to generate coverage that focuses on protest tactics rather than constitutional violations. The story isn’t whether protesters are disruptive — it’s whether presidents can get away with deploying military forces illegally. The story isn’t whether governors are obstructionist, but whether federalism survives executive assault. The framing matters, and the media must resist being manipulated into covering Trump’s constitutional crisis as a law enforcement story.
Fourth, Democrats must unite behind a single, clear message. With Republicans having abdicated their constitutional responsibilities in favor of blind party loyalty, Democrats across all levels of government must coordinate their response around one central theme: Donald Trump is the threat to law and order, not the solution. Democratic governors, mayors, members of Congress and party leaders must speak with one voice: presidents cannot deploy military forces illegally, federalism is not negotiable, and political opposition is not criminal behavior.
This isn’t about policy or protest tactics — it’s about whether America remains a constitutional republic. Every Democratic official must hammer this message home consistently, refusing to be distracted by Trump’s provocations or drawn into debates about secondary issues. The contrast must be crystal clear: Democrats defending constitutional order versus Republicans enabling constitutional destruction.
The stakes couldn’t be higher. If Trump successfully uses manufactured confrontation to expand presidential power, every future president inherits those expanded authorities and it becomes a matter of when, not if, the republic finally falls. Today’s illegal military deployment becomes tomorrow’s standard response. Today’s threats against governors become tomorrow’s federal prosecutions of state officials. Today’s violation of federalism becomes tomorrow’s unitary executive state.
Trump is betting that American institutions will either enable his lawlessness or respond so chaotically that he can justify even greater overreach. Both outcomes serve his purposes. The only winning move is coordinated, non-violent, constitutional resistance that exposes his actions as the real threat to American order.
The emergency isn’t in Los Angeles — it’s in the systematic breakdown of constitutional government by a president who views legal constraints as obstacles to overcome rather than principles to uphold. American democracy’s survival now depends on whether its institutions can respond to this manufactured crisis with the urgency it demands.
Nicholas Creel is an associate professor of business law at Georgia College and State University. His views do not necessarily represent those of his employer.