June 10, 2025

DAN MCLAUGHLIN: You Picked the Wrong Time to Riot.

Trump is following through on nationalizing the California National Guard and putting them seriously to work in restoring order over the impotent protests of California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. Anybody who read the situation and the man could have told them this would happen. Yes, there’s some truth in the TACO taunt: Trump doesn’t much like standing up to people who can fight back, and he often blusters his way into positions he can’t or won’t back up. But Trump has no downside here. He knows he was elected to restore some basic, commonsense ideas that are overwhelmingly popular like public order in the streets, and that Newsom, Bass, and Kamala Harris are about the least sympathetic adversaries possible. He’s also just over four months into his term; it’s not 2020 anymore. A new president responds to challenges such as this one not only with an eye to the situation, but also with an eye on the tone set for the remaining three-plus years. Why did Ronald Reagan come down so hard on the air traffic controller strike? Partly out of principle but also partly to send a message: There’s a new sheriff in town, and you’re not messing with him. The public-employee unions got the message; so did the Soviets and Congress. Reagan meant what he said and was prepared to go to the mattresses.

All of the incentives for Trump, against people burning Waymos and wearing keffiyehs and waving Mexican flags, point in the direction of doing the same. Before you try to use leverage against an opponent, you should first consider whether your acts are received by him as pressure or as a gift. Trump very obviously views disorder in the streets of Los Angeles, against federal authority, and under foreign flags, as a gift. You have to be a special kind of stupid to hand him that. But nobody ever said rioters were smart people.

Neither are looters: Troops and turmoil in LA: Masked looters raid Apple store.

Flashback to 2020’s Summer of Love: Photos show how Apple is tracking and locking demo iPhones that have been stolen from its stores. “Photos of reportedly stolen iPhones have been circulating on social media showing screenshots with a message from Apple requesting that the devices be returned to the store. ‘Please return to Apple Walnut Street,’ one screenshot read, likely referring to the Apple Store located on Walnut Street in Philadelphia. ‘This device has been disabled and is being tracked. Local authorities will be alerted.’”

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): My congressman, Tim Burchett, weighs in.

UPDATE (From Ed):

Posted at 9:22 pm by Ed Driscoll