In years of conflict with Trump, California has never seen anything like this.
California Democrats have long battled Donald Trump. But they’ve never faced such a ferocious offensive as they did this week.
Between the deployment of federal agents to Los Angeles, the gutting of climate standards and the manhandling of the state’s senior U.S. senator, the state absorbed one show of force after another from the president. And in the balance of power between the Trump administration and the nation’s most populous state, California was on the losing end.
“We’re at DEFCON 1 in the conflict between California and the Trump administration,” said Democratic strategist Katie Merrill. “It’s orders of magnitude more than what we’ve seen, ever.”
Democrats in this deep-blue state have spent years working to shield California from a hostile White House, dating back to his first term. But for them, the week’s events registered a new low — a multifront assault that not only threatened the state’s liberal values, but exposed the limits of California’s ability to control its destiny when the federal government has other ideas.
“The moment we’ve feared,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a Tuesday night address, “has arrived.”
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https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/14/the-week-trump-rocked-california-00405932