Hey @JDVance — nice of you to finally make it out to California. Since you’re so eager to talk about me, how about saying it to my face? Let’s debate. Time and place?

Donald Trump, without consulting with California’s law enforcement leaders, commandeered 2,000 of our state’s National Guard members to deploy on our streets. Illegally, and for no reason. This brazen abuse of power by a sitting President inflamed a combustible situation putting our people, our officers, and the National Guard at risk.

Was the four year old the gangbanger? Was the pregnant woman the rapist? We go after serious violent criminals in California. That’s not what you are doing.

When Donald Trump sought blanket authority to commandeer the National Guard, he made that order apply to every state in this nation. Democracy is under assault right before our eyes - the moment we’ve feared has arrived. The rule of law has increasingly given way to the rule of Don. The founding fathers did not live and die to see this moment. It’s time for all of us to stand up.

California will keep fighting on behalf of all our people including in the courts. If some of us can be snatched off the streets without a warrant, based only on suspicion or skin color, then none of us are safe. Authoritarian regimes begin by targeting people who are least able to defend themselves. But they do not stop there. Trump and his loyalists thrive on division because it allows them to take more power and exert even more control.

If you incite violence or destroy our communities, you are going to be held accountable. Thanks to our law enforcement officers and the majority of Angelenos who protested peacefully, this situation was winding down and was concentrated in just a few square blocks downtown. But that’s not what Donald Trump wanted.  He again chose escalation; he chose more force.

TUNE IN NOW: Governor Newsom delivers major address. xitter.cf/i/broadcasts/1nAJEgyBd…