The outcry currently spilling into the streets of Los Angeles in response to the latest ICE raids should have been predictable—but maybe that’s the point. This administration thrives on spectacle. It's entirely possible that the eruption of protest was not only anticipated, but welcomed. Yet, like a stubborn warlord on horseback, Trump’s assault on the City of Angels may not go as planned.
With Trump’s grandiose narcissism on full display and his deep animus toward anything remotely Mexican still burning, the deployment of federal troops begins to make a twisted kind of sense.
It’s a theatrical show of force against a population he deeply resents. It also aligns with his compulsive desire to control everything—including trade, even when he’s objectively terrible at it.