Today in Politics, Bulletin 148. 6/9/25 Ron Filipkowski Jun 9 ∙ … Trump called for the arrest today of CA Gov Gavin Newsom. He was asked about ICE Director Tom Homan saying he may arrest Newsom: “I would do it it I were Tom, I think it would be great.” … Newsom responded: “The President of the United States just called for the arrest of a sitting Governor. This is a day I hoped I would never see in America. I don’t care if you’re a Democrat or a Republican this is a line we cannot cross as a nation — this is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism.” … Trump was asked by a reporter what crime Newsom committed that would justify arresting him: “I think his primary crime is that he ran for governor, because he’s done such a terrible job.” … CNN’s Manu Raju: I asked Speaker Johnson if he’s OK with Trump saying that he would arrest Newsom: “Well, I was busy all today today, and I heard that for the first time sitting next to the president. I don’t know what all that involved, but he gave comment there and I’ll stick by what he said.” … Profiles in courage right there. … Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), currently running for governor of AL, also called for Newsom to be arrested: "Lock him up. LA looks like a third world country — anarchists are in charge, law enforcement is being attacked, and the rule of law is nonexistent." … Newsom responded to Tuberville: “Alabama has 3X the homicide rate of California. Its murder rate is ranked third in the entire country. Stick to football, bro.” … Nobody was more upset about Newsom having Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon on his podcast. I had many very good reasons that have nothing to do with not wanting to hear from the other side. I have listened to more Kirk and Bannon in the last 5 years than Gavin will in his lifetime. But I have officially moved on. I think he has handled this whole situation masterfully and there are more important things to worry about. … Trump said he called Newsom last night and claimed that he saved LA from being “completely obliterated” by federalizing the Nat Guard. Newsom said he is lying: “We talked for 20 minutes, this issue never came up. I kept trying to talk about LA, he wanted to talk about all these other issues. He never once brought up the Nat Guard. He’s a stone cold liar There’s no working with the President. There’s only working for him. I will never work for Trump.” … Newsom gave an excellent interview to MSNBC last night which included the previous comment and these: Q: All of this is about immigration enforcement? Newsom: “I think it’s something much more. This is about authoritarian tendencies. This about command and control. This is about power. This about ego. This is a consistent pattern. This guy has abandoned the core principles of this great democracy. He’s threatening to go after judges he disagrees with, cut off funding to institutions of higher learning, he’s rewriting history and censoring historical facts.” Q: Stephen Miller and others have used the word “insurrection” to describe the activity on the streets of LA. Newsom: “They’re trying to incite violence. They’re trying to impose the kind of rhetoric that only makes conditions worse—that, quite literally, puts people’s lives at risk. And they’re doing it intentionally and knowingly.” Q: How did you find out that Trump was going to usurp your authority and deploy your Nat Guard? Newsom: “I heard it through a staffer. No heads up whatsoever. This is a manufactured crisis—to start stretching credulity, and to begin the process of inevitably moving toward a constitutional crisis around posse comitatus. And I think it’s inevitable—that’s where he’s going.” Q: There’s a pretty good chance Trump might be watching this. Newsom: “I hope so, he might learn something— rescind this order— it’s illegal. You’re creating the conditions you claim you’re solving and you’re not.” Q: Newsom asked about Tom Homan’s threat that he may arrest him: “He's a tough guy. Why doesn't he do that? He knows where to find me. Lay your hands off 4 year old girls that are trying to get educated. Come and arrest me. Let’s just get it over with tough guy. I don’t give a damn.” Newsom on the vandalism: “These images are unacceptable. These people on the car. These aren’t peaceful protesters. They are playing right into Trump’s hand and they need to be called out. They need to be arrested but Donald Trump is the sponsor of these conditions.”  THOSE IMAGES WERE DISCREDITED ELSEWHERE AS BEING OUTDATED, FROM ELSEWHERE & DISINFORMATION … Meanwhile, Trump was doing his best to fan the flames and incite things on Truth Social: “Looking really bad in L.A. BRING IN THE TROOPS!!!” … “ARREST THE PEOPLE IN FACE MASKS, NOW!” … Steve Bannon on his podcast: “We don't just need tough words, we need tough actions. Start arresting officials who interfere with ICE and other law enforcement agencies trying to stop the invasion of the United States. Blink now, and you'll lose your country.” … Trump then claimed today that he saved LA, just like he claimed he saved it from fires: “We made a great decision in sending the Nat Guard to deal with the violent, instigated riots in CA. If we had not done so, LA would have been completely obliterated. The very incompetent ‘Governor,’ Gavin Newscum, and ‘Mayor,’ Karen Bass, should be saying, ‘THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP, YOU ARE SO WONDERFUL. WE WOULD BE NOTHING WITHOUT YOU, SIR.’ Instead, they choose to lie to the People of CA and America by saying that we weren’t needed, and that these are ‘peaceful protests.’ Just one look at the pictures and videos of the Violence and Destruction tells you all you have to know.” … Newsom then posted an article from the SF Chronicle with this caption: “This is how Trump treats his troops. Disgraceful.” Chronicle source: “This is what happens when the president and Sec of Defense demand the Nat Guard state assets deploy immediately with no plan in place and no fed funding available for food, water, fuel and lodging. This is really the failure of the fed govt. If you’re going to federalize these troops, then take care of them.” … Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) complained that Congress didn’t pass additional funding for ICE yet this year because Trump and Johnson wanted to lump it in with the big budget resolution: “We should 100% support ICE with more funding - and it should have been done 6 FRIGGING MONTHS AGO. But it was purposefully held back as leverage for a massive tax/spend bill to gloss over deficit impact of taxes like expanded child tax credits that do not ‘pay for themselves.’” ****MAGA GOP BIG BEAUTIFUL DISASTER!*** … Daniel Horowitz, editor of conservative The Blaze: “Rather than passing immigration right away, the WH made the entire election mandate about some bizarre tax provisions (many of which, ironically, would pass with dem support anyway e.g. tax on tips passed 100-0). Now they are pressuring people to eat a crap sandwich and accusing them of holding up the bill. Headed forward, Trump must A) sever the bill into two parts and immediately pass the immigration portion B) add a provision to the first bill defunding court cases against deportations. It's that simple.” … CA’s AG Rob Bonta announced that he filed a lawsuit against Trump based on the fact that his order to federalize the CA Nat Guard was illegal: “The protests had mostly dissipated and the streets were mostly quiet and calm. Since Trump announced his plan to deploy troops, the situation on the ground escalated quickly. What we saw yesterday happened AFTER the president’s unnecessary, counter-productive, and unlawful order that abused the fed govts authority.” … Former Nat Guard Maj Gen Randy Manner to Fox: “The President's fed deployment of the Nat Guard over the official wishes of a governor is bad for all Americans concerned about freedom of speech and states rights. The governor has the authority and ability to respond to the civil disturbances with law enforcement capabilities within his state, augmented as necessary by requesting law enforcement assistance from other governors. There are over a million badged and trained members of law enforcement in this country for the governor to ask for help if he needs it. While this is presently a legal order, it tramples the governor’s rights and obligations to protect his people. This is an inappropriate use of the Nat Guard and is not warranted.” … Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) posted a video showing police cars on fire with this caption: “This is not peaceful!” It was a video from 2020. I promise you there’s more news coming than just LA, but it is an important story with national implications for all of us. If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin recapping the weekend, you can find it here. Thanks to all for subscribing! Meidas+ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. … SecDef Pete Hegseth also had the Marines on standby. WaPo: “The Marine Corps unit placed on prepare-to-deploy orders for a potential mission in Los Angeles unrest is 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, defense officials say. It's an infantry unit based at Twentynine Palms, CA.” … Rep. Tim Moore (R-NC) gave his expert analysis on the situation in LA from his district in NC: “LA is being burned by lawless mobs who support foreign criminals. House Republicans and the Trump Admin are working together to ensure this chaos doesn’t become America’s future.” … CNN: “As fed agents prepared to fan out in LA for a controversial immigration crackdown, the officers were greeted by a familiar face: Dr. Phil. The TV personality and his camera crew were on hand before and after the raids that took place on Friday and triggered several days of street protests. Phil McGraw was there ‘to get a first-hand look at the targeted operations.’” THOSE IMAGES WERE DISCREDITED ELSEWHERE! OUTDATED & DISINFORMATION! … 5 Waymo cars that were near the area of the protests were set on fire, which were posted all over social media, Fox, Newsmax and every other right-wing outlet. CA Lt Gov Eleni Kounalakis to CNN: “This kind of thing - setting cars on fire only gives Donald Trump the images and the response that he wants in order to be able to try to escalate, even further.” FALSE INFORMATION DISCREDITED ELSEWHERE! FAKE PHOTOS! … Fox host Jesse Watters: “Karen Bass had a stand down order for the LAPD. She didn’t do anything. She let her whole city burn down.” … Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI): “Don’t kid yourself, they know they are absolutely getting cooked politically with their terrible bill and rising prices, and they want to create a violent spectacle to feed their content machine. It’s time for the mainstream media to describe this authoritarian madness accurately.” … Rep. Jimmy Gomez on CNN: “LA County alone is 34% foreign born. So when he says they're going to liberate us, who is he going to liberate us from? Ourselves? It’s Trump who is making this situation worse.” … CA State Sen Scott Wiener (D): “JD Vance calls the LA protests an ‘invasion.’ 4 min later, Miller calls it an ‘insurrection.’ 29 min later, Hegseth threatens to send in Marines. It’s like clockwork. They’ve chomped at the bit for months for a pretext to declare martial law under pretext of insurrection/invasion.” … Sen Mark Kelly (D-AZ): “First, Trump arrested a mayor, a member of Congress, and a labor leader. Now, he’s sending in the Nat Guard — against the advice of local leaders — when police are best equipped to ensure safety and prevent violence. How’d we get here? Trump decided to prioritize ripping apart families and communities instead of focusing on dangerous criminals. This isn’t law and order. This isn’t making our country safer or fixing our border. And it isn’t leadership.” … David Axelrod: “Obama deported far more illegal immigrants than Trump, targeting those with criminal records and the newly arrived. It was done carefully, responsibly and lawfully. What we're seeing in LA is calculated to provoke and escalate. It's a made-for-TV reality show, produced by Donald J. Trump.” … Charlie Kirk made it clear that this is really about the race of the migrants: “It's time to ban third world immigration, legal or illegal. We've reached our limit and we have a huge cultural, educational, housing, financial, and essential services problem to fix now because of it. We need a net-zero immigration moratorium with a ban on all third worlders.” … Homan was asked by MSNBC why ICE is now targeting schools. Q - Are those students public safety threats? Why are they now being targeted at places where children felt safe? What do you say to parents who say they are afraid to send their kids to school? HOMAN: “There's no sanctuary for public safety threats or national security threats.” … A new CBS poll shows that 55% of Americans say that they generally support deportations of undocumented migrants, but 56% said they dislike how Trump is carrying them out. … Deranged Trump then posted this warning: “If they spit, we will hit. The Insurrectionists have a tendency to spit in the face of the Nat Guardsmen/women, and others. These Patriots are told to accept this, it’s just the way life runs. But not in the Trump Admin. IF THEY SPIT, WE WILL HIT, and I promise you they will be hit harder than they have ever been hit before. Such disrespect will not be tolerated!” … FL State Sen Ileana Garcia (R), who founded Latinas for Trump, posted on X that she is disillusioned: “This is not what we voted for. I have always supported Trump, through thick and thin. However, this is unacceptable and inhumane. I understand the importance of deporting criminal aliens, but what we are witnessing are arbitrary measures to hunt down people who are complying with their immigration hearings—in many cases, with credible fear of persecution claims—all driven by a Miller-like desire to satisfy a self-fabricated deportation goal. This undermines the sense of fairness and justice that the American people value.” … The City of Glendale, CA has formally ended its agreement with ICE to detain fed immigration detainees in local facilities. City officials said the decision reflects Glendale’s core values of public safety, transparency, and community trust. The contract previously allowed ICE to detain individuals in the Glendale city jail. Glendale's action adds it to a growing list of jurisdictions opting to walk away from ICE detention agreements due to their aggressive enforcement tactics. … MAGA voter registration activist and grifter Scott Presler wants in on the action: “If ICE needs more bodies on the ground, I’m willing to temporarily stop my political work to help. I studied criminal justice in college, am physically fit, and want to make sure that the mission is a success. I’m very serious — ready and willing to serve.” … Presler has never served in the military or in law enforcement. He founded and was the president of Gays for Trump in 2017. … AP reported that HHS Secretary RFK Jr. has disbanded and fired all 17 members of the scientific committee that advises the CDC on how vaccines should be used. He promised to Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who cast the deciding vote to confirm him, that he would not do this during his confirmation hearing. Cassidy even posted a statement that RFK Jr. assured him he would not disband this panel. Oh well. … Sen Susan Collins (R-ME) is concerned. To HuffPost: “It seems excessive to ask for everybody’s resignations. Generally, I think vaccine and other advisory committees are very helpful to the public. So to cancel all of the people or cancel the meetings raises serious questions.” … NBC reported the WH is struggling to find people willing to work for Pete Hegseth after he fired his senior staffers: “Top DOD jobs, including the defense secretary’s chief of staff, are normally considered prestigious and typically attract multiple qualified candidates. But at least 3 people have already turned down potential roles under Hegseth. So far the admin has not had much luck identifying people who are either willing to work for Hegseth or who fit the bill politically. And the WH has rejected some people Hegseth wants to hire, while Hegseth has rejected some of the WH’s candidates.” … House Homeland Security Chair Mark Green (R-TN): “It is with a heavy heart that I announce my retirement from Congress. Recently, I was offered an opportunity in the private sector that was too exciting to pass up. As a result, today I notified the Speaker and the House of Representatives that I will resign from Congress as soon as the House votes once again on the reconciliation package.” ***MILITARY PARADE!**** … Trump lied today and claimed that he is paying for the military parade in DC on his birthday rather than the taxpayers who are on the hook for tens of millions of dollars: "A lot of that money is being paid for by me and people that make donations." … WaPo: “Tanks scheduled to roll along the National Mall in a June parade are nearly double the weight limit allowed on DC roads without a permit. Constitution Ave and other city roads maintained by local govt generally support vehicles with a max gross weight of 80,000 pounds. The Abrams main battle tanks — 28 of which are scheduled to participate in the parade — each weigh about 70 tons, almost double the street’s weight limit.” … DC Mayor Muriel Bowser: “We’ve worked really hard to get our roads in a state of good repair. I remain concerned about it, I have to tell you. These are, for the most part, local streets.” …. The military parade on Trump’s birthday will include 28 tanks, 28 Stryker armored personnel carriers, more than 100 other vehicles, a World War II-era B-25 bomber, 34 horses, two mules, a dog and 6,600 soldiers, and 50 helicopters. … WSJ: “Texas Majority PAC, a Soros-funded PAC, will launch a ‘Blue Texas’ initiative Monday along with the TX Democratic Party aiming to organize tens of thousands of volunteers, recruit candidates and boost turnout ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. PAC Dep. Exec Dir Katherine Fischer: “If a win is on the table in 2026, we don’t want to leave it there by not being organized.” … “The longer-term goal of the initiative is to make TX a battleground state by 2032, when the state is expected to play an even larger role in the electoral college following the next round of redistricting. Dems face a shrinking pathway to winning 270 electoral votes if they fail to compete in growing Sunbelt states, Fischer said. States such as TX, FL, NC and AZ have seen population growth and are expected to add electoral votes, while reliably blue CA and NY have experienced a decrease in population and will likely lose electoral votes.” … France24: “Russia launched 479 drones at Ukraine in the biggest overnight drone bombardment of the 3-year war, the Ukrainian air force said Monday. As well as drones, 20 missiles of various types were fired at different parts of Ukraine. Ukraine’s AF said its air defenses destroyed 277 drones and 19 missiles in mid-flight, claiming that only 10 drones or missiles hit their target. Officials said one person was injured.” … Baird Equity Research has downgraded Tesla stock. MarketWatch: “While Elon Musk has promised hundreds of thousands of robotaxis on the road by the second half of next year, Baird analysts expect just 6,000.” Baird: “We believe Musk’s comments regarding the robotaxi ramp are a bit too optimistic, and we believe this excitement has been priced into shares. The relationship with Trump has been a positive, but now adds uncertainty and fuels questions regarding brand damage.” … NOTUS: “The reconciliation bill has given Republicans a way to target abortion access in states that legally protect it: threatening their federal health care funding. House Republicans added a last-minute provision to their reconciliation bill via a manager’s amendment that would block certain ACA funds from going to state health plans that cover abortion services. There are currently 13 states — CA, CO, DE, IL, ME, MD, MA, MN, NJ, NY, OR, VT and WA — with laws in the books that require insurers to cover abortion.” … The bill states that health plans that cover abortion services cannot receive federally funded cost-sharing reductions, meaning that funds could be denied for all residents of a state for all services if their state allows it. In 2024, half of all people enrolled in an ACA health plan qualified for cost-sharing reductions. … Katie O’Connor with National Women’s Law Center: “It wouldn’t ban insurers from providing coverage for abortion care, but it would make it more difficult for insurers to provide such coverage. It would result in a lot of disruption to abortion coverage generally.” … Out of roughly 40,000 votes cast by DC attorneys, Pam Bondi’s brother Brad Bondi lost his bid for DC Bar president to Diane Seltzer 91-9%. At least he kept it close. … Mike Lindell decided to take the stand in his own defense today in the defamation lawsuit brought by the Dominion CEO Eric Coomer. NextOn9News: “Lindell says he’s drained his entire fortune chasing claims of election rigging: “I went from a net worth of $50M to $10M in the hole and I’ve lost everything.” … “Coomer’s legal team played a video jurors have seen several times during the trial where Lindell accuses Coomer by name saying, in part, ‘You are disgusting and you are treasonous.’ Lindell told Coomer to turn himself in and cut a deal to only serve 10-20 years. Lindell is now claiming that his attacks on Coomer, calling him ‘treasonous’ and ‘disgusting’ and suggesting he’d serve prison time, were not because of alleged election rigging but because he was mad that he believed Coomer was blocking him from free airtime on Newsmax.” … Lindell had the right to remain silent, but he didn’t have the ability.