Los Angeles is a tipping point

Kristi Noem announced a literal armed coup in L.A. today that seeks to "liberate the city from the socialists." Then she had a U.S. Senator violently handcuffed and thrown to the ground.

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) being manhandled and dragged out of the room for asking a question a Kristi Noem’s press conference in Los Angeles.

Uhhh, hey guys. It’s been one week since Elon Musk called Trump a pedo on main, but it feels like at least ten years, because now we have a five-alarm fascism fire raging through Los Angeles that has really made it impossible to care about any two billionaires’ personal feelings for each other.

I’m sure you’re all generally aware of what’s going on in L.A., but to recap the basics: This all started earlier this month when Stephen Miller reportedly went into a rage over the fact that ICE wasn’t deporting enough immigrants fast enough and imposed a 3,000-person-a-day quota for detainments, specifically demanding that ICE agents go into places like Home Depots and elementary schools to jack up their daily numbers. Los Angeles residents began protesting in the streets against these abhorrent raids, which included the kidnapping of a fourth grader and a very pregnant woman who turned out to be a U.S. citizen and had to go to the emergency room after being released.

To be clear, these protests against the ICE raids in L.A. have been 99% peaceful—including things like group line dances and wholesome concerts—though a car here or there set on fire gave cable news channels enough visual fodder to portray them as savage and violent. And Trump responded, of course, by sending in the National Guard and then the Marines to quell the “insurrection” that he created in his head and the unrest he created on the ground.

Sending in federal troops, already, was a fascist and likely illegal move, and it was an idea that Project 2025 had already laid out for Trump to do, basically to set the stage for martial law and a full authoritarian crackdown on protests and dissent. (And Cali, by the way, is the largest contributor to federal taxes among the states, by a long shot—so the state is essentially being forced to foot the bill for Trump’s war on itself.)

Trump, meanwhile, suggested from the White House lawn that his border czar, Tom Homan, have California governor Gavin Newsom arrested simply for being a Democrat. "I would do it if I were Tom. I think it's great," he told reporters, reveling in the freedom of his Supreme Court-granted criminal immunity.

Newsom immediately posted the video and sounded the alarm on what was happening:

This brings us to today’s unhinged escalation. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem gave a press conference in L.A. declaring that Homeland Security and ICE intend to stay in the city for as long as necessary in order to free it from its democratically elected leadership—which sure sounds like a fascist “regime change.” “We are not going away,” she said. “We are staying here to liberate the 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 the city.”

You can see in the videos and images below that Sen. Alex Padilla (D), a sitting U.S. senator from California who tried to ask Noem questions in the state that he represents, was then forcibly removed from the room, violently thrown to the floor, and handcuffed by police.

Padilla’s colleagues in the Senate reacted pretty strongly and immediately. “This is a horrifying moment in our nation’s history,” said Elizabeth Warren.

“We will lose this democracy,” said Patty Murray, who was on the verge of tears on the Senate floor. “None of us should be silent. None of us.”

Chuck Schumer said at a podium, in the middle of working with Republicans on crypto legislation (LOL), “I just saw something that sickened my stomach; the manhandling of a United States Senator. We need immediate answers to what the hell went on."

Indeed, this is an alarming, overt escalation of the authoritarian takeover that we’ve already been watching unfold these past few months. It feels like an inflection point for the nation—especially ahead of the massive, North Korea-style military parade Trump is holding in D.C. this weekend to celebrate his own birthday. We can either stand by and allow this regime to start imprisoning elected Democrats and using the military to muzzle any peaceful dissent, essentially ceding American democracy entirely, or we recognize that we are frogs in boiling water right now and collectively do something about it.

There’s a “No Kings” protest in every city this Saturday, on Trump’s birthday. At this point, if you’re not at least out there screaming and hitting the pavement to make the people’s army bigger and louder than his parade, you’re complicit in your own oppression.