Pete Hegseth and Gavin Newsom commerce insults on X over LA protests | EUROtoday

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth bought right into a heated back-and-forth on social media over the explosive anti-ICE protests which have taken over Los Angeles.

The White House deployed 2,000 National Guard troops to arrest protesters as tensions proceed to develop Sunday, the third day of protests sparked by a sequence of immigration raids by ICE brokers on Friday.

Hegseth on Saturday threatened to deploy the U.S. navy to take management of the protests – a lot to the ire of Newsom, who mentioned the administration’s threats would “only escalate tensions.”

“If violence continues, active-duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized — they are on high alert,” Hegseth mentioned on X.

Hegseth’s message seemingly provoked Newsom, who referred to as it “deranged behavior” Saturday.

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“The Secretary of Defense is now threatening to deploy active-duty Marines on American soil against its own citizens,” Newsom wrote, including, “This is deranged behavior.”

Hegseth fired again at Newsom Sunday morning, writing on X: “Deranged = allowing your city to burn & law enforcement to be attacked.”

He continued: “There is plenty of room for peaceful protest, but ZERO tolerance for attacking federal agents who are doing their job. The National Guard, and Marines if need be, stand with ICE.”

In a later submit, Hegseth shared a picture of unruly protesters in entrance of a burning automotive, writing,” Another ‘principally peaceable protest’ delivered to you by @GavinNewsom. DEPORT.”

The former Fox & Friends host then shared a screengrab of a submit made by President Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform during which he claimed the National Guard was in Los Angeles working to close the protests down, earlier than that they had truly arrived.

“For those keeping track, Donald Trump’s National Guard had not been deployed on the ground when he posted this,” Newsom later jabbed.

The first members of the nationwide guard arrived Sunday morning round 9 a.m. native time in response to the clashes between federal immigration authorities and protesters seeking to cease them from finishing up deportations.

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Trump mentioned he was deploying 2,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles to place an finish to the protests, which he referred to as “a form of rebellion.”

The transfer got here regardless of objections from Newsom. It was the primary time in a long time, since 1965, {that a} state’s National Guard had been activated with out the governor’s request, in keeping with the Brennan Center for Justice.

The troops deployed on Sunday have been restricted to a small space in downtown Los Angeles.

With reporting from the Associated Press.