Conversation

Trump walked out to a thunderous standing ovation as Kid Rock’s “American Bad Ass” boomed from the sound system.
He watched martial artists slug it out behind a chain-link fence.
A female champion let the US president try on her gold belt.
It was a night of machismo, spectacle and violence.
Shortly before he joined an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event in Newark, New Jersey, on Saturday night,
Trump had signed an order deploying 2,000 national guard troops to Los Angeles,
where protests sparked by sweeping immigration raids led to clashes between authorities and demonstrators.

The White House said Trump was sending in the guardsmen to
“address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester” in California.
Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said the move was “purposefully inflammatory
and will only escalate tensions”.

It was the first time in 60 years that a president has activated a state’s national guard – a reserve military – without a request from its governor.

Critics also saw it as an authoritarian flex by a strongman president
who has relentlessly trampled norms and burst through guardrails.
Since returning to office in January, Trump has sought to crush dissent at cultural institutions, law firms, media companies and universities.
Many believed it was only a matter of time before he took the fight to the streets.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/08/trump-la-protests-enemy-within?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other