A defiant-sounding Gov. Gavin Newsom urged Americans to “not give in to” President Donald Trump, whom he lambasted as a “dictator” during an address to the public on Tuesday evening, June 10.
The roughly 8-and-a-half-minute address occurred four days after Trump first ordered National Guard troops to Los Angeles in response to demonstrators protesting actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in detaining immigrants through large-scale operations.
The president’s decision to send in National Guard troops came over the objections of Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, both of whom insisted that city and state law enforcement officers had the situation under control.
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Gov. Newsom: ‘Democracy is under assault’ after Trump deploys troops
But Trump did not stop there. He later deployed some 700 U.S. Marines as well.
On Tuesday evening, Newsom warned the public that while the president has been focused on sending National Guard troops and members of the Marine to California, Trump’s actions in California are only the beginning.
“California may be first, but it clearly will not end here,” Newsom said. “Other states are next. Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes. This moment we have feared has arrived.”
Newsom also urged protesters exercising their First Amendment right to free speech to do so peacefully and not play into Trump’s hands. Democrats have in recent days accused the president of intentionally provoking protesters in order to justify sending in more troops.
“I know many of you are feeling deep anxiety, stress and fear,” Newsom said. “But I want you to know that you are the antidote to that fear and that anxiety.”
“What Donald Trump wants most,” Newsom continued, “is your fealty, your silence, to be complicit in this moment. Do not give in to him.”
Newsom also accused the president of taking a “wrecking ball” to the federal government and accused Congressional leaders like House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, of failing to provide the checks and balances needed against a president he suggested is intent on turning the U.S. government into an authoritarian regime.
“He’s calling for a sitting governor to be arrested for no other reason than …, in his own words, for getting elected,” Newsom said, referring to Trump’s comment on Monday that the president’s “border czar,” Tom Homan, should “arrest” the California governor.
Earlier in the day, Trump had posted on his Truth Social platform that “If I didn’t ‘SEND IN THE TROOPS’ to Los Angeles the last three nights, that once beautiful and great City would be burning to the ground right now, much like 25,000 houses burned to the ground in L.A. due to an incompetent Governor and Mayor” — a reference to the deadly January wildfires that swept through L.A. County.
Newsom’s address came the same day a federal judge denied the governor’s request for a temporary restraining order to block the Trump administration’s deployment of federalized state National Guard troops and Marines to Southern California.
On Monday, the state sued the Trump administration, arguing that deploying thousands of National Guard troops across California without the consent of the governor of local law enforcement is illegal.
“California will keep fighting,” Newsom said. “We’ll keep fighting on behalf of our people.”
The governor’s office had titled Newsom’s address as “Democracy at a Crossroads.” It reported that his address was delivered to nearly 40 million Californians and Americans on Tuesday night.
When it initially started, the livestream was muted. The governor’s press office joked about the technical issue in a post on X, saying: “Sorry for the momentary silence earlier — our stream briefly went under Trump-era transparency rules.”
