Los Angeles is a war zone. At this point, it's Mogadishu with some very rich residents, who ironically would support the city's mayhem. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted a series of raids last week, mostly against illegal immigrants with outstanding deportation orders. It led to mayhem, with the National Guard and the U.S. Marines being deployed to help restore order. The situation was a throwback to 2020 when one Republican senator was dragged over the coals for wanting to deploy troops to restore law and order.
Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) took it in the teeth but couldn't have cared less. He knew how the left would react. It was the summer of 2020, which saw the nation engulfed in riots over the death of George Floyd. It was a circus. President Donald Trump should've deployed military forces, but with an election coming up, he didn't risk it. He also had the likes of former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, two anti-Trump clowns, helming things at the Pentagon.
.@TomCottonAR sets the record straight.
— Senate Republicans (@NRSC) June 9, 2025
"What we can't allow in this country is lawless violence against innocent civilians ... I'm not sure what pictures and video Cory Booker saw from Los Angeles calling it 'peaceful protest' — what I saw was uncontrolled rioting." pic.twitter.com/gyKmNTadGV
Cotton's New York Times op-ed "Send in the Troops" was right then, and he's right now as Los Angeles is being set ablaze by pro-illegal alien agitators who are firebombing cop cars, throwing bricks at police, and committing wanton acts of vandalism and looting.
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) June 8, 2025
These rioters, if not subdued, not only will destroy the livelihoods of law-abiding citizens but will also take more innocent lives. Many poor communities that still bear scars from past upheavals will be set back still further.
One thing above all else will restore order to our streets: an overwhelming show of force to disperse, detain and ultimately deter lawbreakers. But local law enforcement in some cities desperately needs backup, while delusional politicians in other cities refuse to do what’s necessary to uphold the rule of law.
The pace of looting and disorder may fluctuate from night to night, but it’s past time to support local law enforcement with federal authority. Some governors have mobilized the National Guard, yet others refuse, and in some cases the rioters still outnumber the police and Guard combined. In these circumstances, the Insurrection Act authorizes the president to employ the military “or any other means” in “cases of insurrection, or obstruction to the laws.”
This venerable law, nearly as old as our republic itself, doesn’t amount to “martial law” or the end of democracy, as some excitable critics, ignorant of both the law and our history, have comically suggested. In fact, the federal government has a constitutional duty to the states to “protect each of them from domestic violence.” Throughout our history, presidents have exercised this authority on dozens of occasions to protect law-abiding citizens from disorder. Nor does it violate the Posse Comitatus Act, which constrains the military’s role in law enforcement but expressly excepts statutes such as the Insurrection Act.
That was spot-on, Sen. Cotton. He was right then, and now we have troops entering Los Angeles to quell this rebellion. The man deserves an apology, though he'll never get it. It also cost James Bennet, the editor who greenlit this piece, his job for publishing it five years ago. It's what happens when liberalism runs amok and woke creeps run newsrooms. Blessedly, these outfits are dying out as more Americans flock to other information ecosystems.
Cotton reposted his op-ed in the wake of the LA riots.
My only question is when we can deploy tanks in these deep-blue hellholes. Make California a military district until we can figure out what the hell is going on, like why local Democrats allow their cities to be burned down all the time.