{"id":1053156,"date":"2025-06-09T19:45:24","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T23:45:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1053156"},"modified":"2025-06-09T19:45:31","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T23:45:31","slug":"dnc-chair-ken-martin-statement-on-donald-trump-mobilizing-the-marines-to-suppress-political-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/dnc-chair-ken-martin-statement-on-donald-trump-mobilizing-the-marines-to-suppress-political-protests\/","title":{"rendered":"DNC Chair Ken Martin Statement on Donald Trump Mobilizing the Marines to Suppress Political Protests"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"449\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?w=1024\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1050776\" srcset=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png 1101w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=300,132 300w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=768,337 768w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=1024,449 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>In response to Donald Trump deploying the Marines to suppress protests in California, <\/em><strong><em>DNC Chair Ken Martin released the following statement:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDonald Trump is enacting his campaign of revenge and retribution, deploying the United States Marines to a state at the objection of its governor \u2014 for the first time in about sixty years \u2014 purely for his own political games. Trump\u2019s extreme, unprecedented escalation is an abuse of power. Our military has a responsibility to keep our nation safe, but Trump is instead using service members as pawns to suppress what he sees as his political opponents.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTrump\u2019s dangerous move has nothing to do with law and order \u2014 he is desperate to look strong as more and more Americans become enraged by the Republican plot to take health care and food assistance away from millions to make the rich richer. This isn\u2019t the first time Trump has tried to use the military for his political agenda \u2014 it\u2019s straight out of his \u2018wannabe dictator\u2019 playbook.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Donald Trump took an unprecedented action on Saturday, calling up National Guard troops to quell protests in California, bypassing the authority of Governor Gavin Newsom.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national-security\/2025\/06\/08\/trump-national-guard-la-protests-law\/\">Washington Post<\/a>:<strong> \u201cPresident Donald Trump\u2019s order to deploy 2,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles appears unprecedented, relying on an unorthodox use of a law aimed at quelling serious domestic unrest or an attack on the United States by a foreign power, some legal experts said Sunday.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt marks the first time in about 60 years that an American president has taken such action without a governor\u2019s consent. Furthermore, his executive order authorizes the Pentagon to dispatch military personnel domestically to enable federal functions and protect government property \u2014 <strong>a chilling sign, the experts said, that Trump is prepared to send troops into other cities in response to protests.\u201d&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2025\/06\/09\/gavin-newsom-trump-is-unhinged-speaking-like-an-authoritarian-00394617\">Politico<\/a>: \u201cCalifornia Gov. Gavin Newsom said Donald Trump\u2019s threats against him and other Democrats following the president\u2019s unilateral deployment of National Guard troops to the Los Angeles area carried all the markings of authoritarianism. \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTrump and his border czar have targeted Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass by name with threats of arrests \u2014 and other ominous unspecified acts to be carried out by the federal government if the two don\u2019t fall in line. \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCalifornia on Monday sued the Trump administration for authorizing the deployment against their will. The president and aides portrayed the move as just the start of potentially escalated action, including sending hundreds of U.S. Marines from nearby Camp Pendleton.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>REMINDER: This isn\u2019t the first time Trump tried to use the military to suppress political speech that he disagreed with.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2022\/05\/09\/1097517470\/trump-esper-book-defense-secretary\">NPR<\/a>: <strong>\u201cFormer Pentagon chief Esper says Trump asked about shooting protesters\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFormer Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper said President Donald Trump inquired about shooting protesters amid the unrest that took place after George Floyd&#8217;s murder in 2020. \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u201cEsper said he stayed in the administration because he worried that if he left, the president would more easily implement some of his \u2018dangerous ideas.\u2019 \u2026&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEsper said he and other top officials were caught off guard by Trump&#8217;s reaction to the unrest in the summer of 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In response to Donald Trump deploying the Marines to suppress protests in California, DNC Chair Ken Martin released the following statement: \u201cDonald Trump is enacting his campaign of revenge and retribution, deploying the United States Marines to a state at the objection of its governor \u2014 for the first time in about sixty years \u2014 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":292,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1053156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.0 - 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