Following the Pentagon’s decision to withdraw half of the National Guard troops stationed in Los Angeles, California Governor Gavin Newsom sharply criticized President Trump, accusing him of squandering hundreds of millions of dollars to project a “tough” image by targeting immigrants. Newsom further charged the president with attempting to entrench Republican control in Congress by pushing Texas to redraw electoral districts in favor of GOP candidates, while threatening a similar Democratic strategy in California.
“Everything is shifting, and it’s happening fast,” Newsom told reporters on Wednesday. “I refuse to be the guy who looks back and says I should’ve acted. I won’t stand idly by. I won’t face my children and admit I was too cautious.”
Speaking outside Downey Memorial Christian Church after meeting with its senior pastor, Rev. Tanya Lopez, Newsom addressed a June incident where plainclothes federal agents detained a churchgoer in the parking lot. He condemned the administration’s immigration enforcement tactics, arguing they aim to instill fear in families and communities rather than focus on violent criminals—a mission Newsom said he would back. He highlighted the economic toll on family-owned businesses, noting that fear has driven immigrants, who are vital workers and customers, to avoid public spaces.
Newsom labeled Trump’s deployment of approximately 4,000 National Guard troops as part of a “cruel” policy agenda, calling the partial withdrawal an acknowledgment of the deployment’s futility. He pointed out that the troops’ “utilization rate” was a mere 5%, with the vast majority idle, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions. “They’re a solution looking for a problem,” he remarked.
The troop reduction follows a legal dispute over the administration’s authority to deploy the military domestically. A federal appeals court upheld the president’s broad, though not unlimited, power to do so. Local and state officials, however, maintained that the National Guard was unnecessary to manage protests sparked by immigration raids, which have resulted in roughly 3,000 arrests.
On a separate front, Newsom reiterated California’s potential response to Trump’s call for Republican-led states like Texas to redistrict in favor of GOP congressional candidates ahead of the 2026 midterms. With Republicans currently controlling both the Senate and House, Newsom warned that such moves threaten fair representation. “They can’t win the old-fashioned way, so they’re rewriting the rules,” he said.
In 2010, California voters transferred redistricting authority to an independent Citizens Redistricting Commission. Newsom suggested the state Legislature could propose a constitutional amendment to alter redistricting laws, potentially through a special election before the 2026 primaries. He also revealed that lawmakers are exploring a legal workaround to redraw congressional maps directly with a two-thirds legislative vote, bypassing a public ballot.
“We’re not sitting on the sidelines preaching ideals,” Newsom said. “We’re confronting the existential threat posed by Trump and certain Republican states head-on, and we’re working with legislators and others who feel the same urgency.”
There is nothing more damaging than democrats in charge of government, how many times must they prove it?