Street protests, clashes with the governor of California and fears over the possibility of using the Pentagon for the largest mass deportation in American history.
The climate was already tense in the aftermath of Donald Trump's election , despite attempts to tone things down by Joe Biden, who will receive the president-elect in the Oval Office on Wednesday to implement the peaceful transition he promised.
The tycoon has engaged in his first political clash with Gavin Newsom, one of the Democratic governors preparing the "resistance" to make their state "Trump-proof", that is, proof against Trump and his policies . "Gavin Newscum (offensive nickname, scum means scum, ed.) is trying to kill beautiful California. He is using the term 'Trump-proof' as a way to stop all the great things that can be done to 'make California great again,' but I just won the election in a landslide," he wrote on Truth.
California is one of several blue states that have announced preemptive moves to “vaccinate” against Trump’s announced policies, and Newsom has already taken the lead in the “resistance.” He is joined by New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, all of whom have presidential ambitions in 2028.
Among the most feared policies are those on immigration , with Trump having promised to put an end to Democratic sanctuary cities and to launch the largest mass deportation in US history. To implement it, the Wall Street Journal reveals, his advisers are evaluating a declaration of national emergency on the first day of his inauguration, which could allow the use of Defense funds (including for the wall on the border with Mexico), military facilities for detention and military aircraft for deportations. This while Pentagon officials are holding informal discussions on what to do if the future commander in chief were to give an illegal order, for example using the army against his political enemies or to push back migrants at the border with Mexico, given that American law generally prohibits the use of active troops for public order purposes.
