In a defiant move against a federal court order, the Trump administration is refusing to withdraw thousands of U.S. military personnel deployed to Los Angeles, drawing sharp criticism and raising alarms about constitutional overreach—and possibly something even more calculated.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ruled that President Donald Trump had “violated the Posse Comitatus Act” by deploying 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines into the city. The law, designed to prevent the use of military force for domestic law enforcement, has been a guardrail against authoritarian overstep since the 1800s.
But the Trump administration isn’t just ignoring the ruling—they’re openly defying it. Bill Essayli, Trump’s acting U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, responded bluntly on X:
“The military will remain in Los Angeles,” he wrote, dismissing the injunction as “a false narrative and a misleading injunction.”
Essayli insisted that “The military has never engaged in direct law enforcement operations here in LA.” Instead, he claimed, the troops are there to “protect our federal employees [and] our properties so our federal agents can safely enforce federal laws in the face of the thugs being unleashed and encouraged by state and local politicians.”
That language alone raised eyebrows. But now, a bigger, more unsettling pattern is beginning to emerge. It’s becoming increasingly apparent that Trump isn’t just reacting to unrest—he’s actively trying to provoke it.
Multiple legal and political analysts suggest Trump’s strategy is to incite protest and trigger a fierce public response, which he can then use as justification for the very military presence that courts have deemed illegal.
“This isn’t about restoring order—it’s about creating chaos to justify control,” one former DOJ official said. “If the public erupts in protest, Trump gets the narrative he wants: that only a strong hand can restore peace. It’s the oldest authoritarian playbook in the world.”
If true, it’s a disturbing calculation: bait the public into the streets, amplify fear, then double down on force.
Despite the court ruling, troops remain deployed. Military vehicles line federal buildings downtown. National Guard units stand watch at protest-prone intersections. Yet local law enforcement and community leaders have repeatedly said they’ve seen no evidence to warrant such an aggressive federal footprint.
The court, too, drew the line. But Trump’s DOJ seems more interested in stomping over it.
Legal scholars warn this could be a constitutional crisis in the making. The Posse Comitatus Act exists for a reason—to protect civilians from exactly this kind of military overreach. If the executive branch simply refuses to comply with a federal court order, what’s left to check it?
“We’re watching the guardrails of democracy being tested in real time,” said one constitutional law expert. “The scariest part is, it’s not clear whether they’ll hold.”
For now, Trump appears to be daring the system to stop him. And in Los Angeles, where the boots are already on the ground, the question is no longer just about legality—it’s about how far he’s willing to go.
