From Statesman to Strongman: The Dangerous Difference in Deploying the National Guard

In April 1992, the city of Los Angeles erupted in flames. The acquittal of four white police officers who brutally beat Rodney King—a moment immortalized on grainy camcorder footage—ignited widespread outrage and unrest. The situation spiraled quickly: property destruction, looting, and violence overwhelmed local authorities.

In response, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley (a Democrat) and California Governor Pete Wilson (a Republican) made a formal request for federal assistance. President George H.W. Bush (a Republican) responded by invoking the Insurrection Act and dispatching the National Guard and federal troops to restore order.

It was a heavy decision—not made lightly.

What matters as much as the action taken was the way it was taken. President Bush worked in cooperation with state and local leaders from both parties. He understood the gravity of federal force on American soil. And though California had rejected him at the ballot box, Bush rose above partisanship. He wasn’t governing out of spite. He was governing as a statesman—with a sense of duty to every American, not just his base.

Fast-forward to the present . . .

On Friday, after protests broke out across California in response to a sweeping series of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, President Donald Trump deployed 4,100 National Guard troops and 700 U.S. Marines to the state. But this wasn’t a moment of bipartisan crisis management. There was no request from the mayor or the governor.

This was unilateral . . . punitive . . . personal.

This isn’t 1992 and George H.W. Bush. This is Donald Trump, and it’s part of a disturbing “what will he do next” pattern.

Trump’s move comes on the heels of weeks of escalating rhetoric. He has repeatedly vilified California as a “failed state,” mocked its leaders—especially Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass—and relished every opportunity to portray the state as enemy territory. In his mind, there’s “his America,” and there’s those who didn’t vote for him.

They don’t count.

What’s happening here? California, the most populous and diverse state in the nation, has become a convenient punching bag for Trump’s culture war. He’s not sending troops to de-escalate. He’s sending them to divide and dominate. He’s not trying to keep the peace. He’s stoking conflict. And he’s shredding the norms of federalism, civility, and democratic restraint.

That’s not Republican . . . or conservative . . . it’s authoritarian.

To reasonable Republicans who still revere the legacies of George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan: I know you’re out there. This is your moment.

You know what leadership looks like—and what it doesn’t. Ronald Reagan, California’s own governor before becoming president, would not have used federal force as political gamesmanship or payback. George H.W. Bush, veteran of World War II and lifelong public servant, wrote in his journal that he wanted to be “President of all the people, not just the base.” He’d be appalled by this presidential brutality.

Where are you, sensible Republicans? We need you more than ever.

Not every policy disagreement has to become a war. Not every protest has to be a pretext for military action. Not every disagreement makes someone an enemy of the state. This isn’t just about California. This is about preserving the idea that America is still one nation.

What we’re witnessing in California and elsewhere isn’t law and order. It’s punishment politics—government by vendetta. And if this goes unchallenged, it won’t stop at California.

Will Illinois be next? New York? Will your state be next, or mine? Any state that dares to reject Trump’s politics is in the crosshairs. If we normalize federal forces being used against our own citizens—not for protection, but for political theater—we cross a line from democracy into something darker.

Whatever your politics has been, it isn’t this. Please, don’t stay silent . . . because silence is complicity . . . and complicity is how democracies die.

Don’t change your conservative stripes. Don’t be Democrat or Independent. Be who you are: a Regan-Bush Republican. Be an American. A principled American, who understands that power must be wielded with humility—not as a cudgel against the states you don’t like or the people who cast votes for someone else.

In 1992, George H.W. Bush reached across the aisle, even when it was politically inconvenient. In 2025, when Donald Trump reaches for the military, it’s to punish his enemies. And that, my Republican friends, is the the difference between a president and an autocrat.

About the Author

Mark M. Bello is an attorney and author of 9 Zachary Blake Legal Thrillers and other legal themed novels and children’s books. For more information, please visit https://www.markmbello.com