California Gov. Gavin Newsom suffered a legal rebuke Thursday night in his increasingly combative feud with President Trump, but the pair’s repeated sparring over immigration arrests and the Los Angeles riots is proving a net political win for Newsom – at least in the short term.
A federal appeals court late Thursday indefinitely blocked Newsom’s effort to reclaim control of the National Guard troops activated by the president in response to civil unrest in Los Angeles related to immigration arrests and deportations.
The three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that Trump appeared to have acted within his authority when he directed 4,000 California National Guard to help contain the riots. The judges – two appointed by Trump and one by President Biden – determined that Trump had wide latitude to determine that the protests and related violence were interfering with the execution of federal immigration law.
While the judges acknowledged there are limits to presidents’ ability to deploy the National Guard, they found that in this case there was enough evidence of civil unrest and danger to federal officials to justify the actions.
“Affording the president that deference, we conclude that it is likely that the president lawfully exercised his statutory authority” which authorizes federalization of the National Guard when “the president is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States,” the panel concluded.
Newsom responded to the ruling with an X.post pledging that “this fight doesn’t end here.”
“The court rightly rejected Trump’s claims that he can do whatever he wants with the National Guard and doesn’t have to explain himself to a court,” Newsom wrote in the post. “The president is not a king and is not above the law. We will press forward with our challenge to President Trump’s authoritarian use of military soldiers against citizens.”
The appeals court decision was just the latest skirmish in the years-long legal and political conflict between Trump and Newsom. The hostilities began in Trump’s first term and reignited just days after Trump regained the White House last November, when California’s governor declared himself a leader of the resistance. Newsom briefly toned down the rhetoric in January during the devastating and deadly L.A. fires when he was forced to ask Trump for $40 billion to rebuild.
Since then, Newsom has declared himself a likely 2028 presidential candidate and abandoned any attempt to mollify Trump. Since the beginning of the unrest in Los Angeles, Newsom’s official social media account has become a full-time trolling operation. His press office has called Stephen Miller, Trump’s domestic policy adviser and chief architect of his immigration policy, “Voldemort,” while depicting him as a gargoyle, using profanity, and mocking Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Newsom has also taken the fight to Trump’s home turf, inviting prominent MAGA guests on his podcast and penning an op-ed for Fox News. In that piece, which ran this week, Newsom argued that the country is facing a “perilous moment” and accused Trump of “trying to destroy our democracy” by turning the country’s military against American families.
“The deployment of federal soldiers in L.A. doesn’t protect our communities – it traumatizes them,” he wrote. “This is not public safety. This is tyranny.”
The president has likewise ramped up his rhetoric against Newsom, whom he calls “Governor New-scum,” using the governor and the state’s progressive policies as political pinatas to please his MAGA base.
On Wednesday night Trump suggested he’s not inclined to sign off on a bill giving California the $40 billion in wildfire damage relief Newsom has been waiting for since January after a week and a half of Newsom’s attacks on Trump.
When a reporter asked if Trump’s recent “dust-ups” with Newsom would impact additional wildfire relief, Trump first hammered Newsom as “incompetent” when it comes to mitigating fire risk and adequately preparing for it.
Trump then shifted to their personal animosity, suggesting the sour relations could interfere with his willingness release the funds to California. “Hatred is never a good thing in politics,” the president said. “When you don’t like somebody – you don’t respect somebody, it’s harder for that person to get money when you’re on top.”
Trump’s statement appearing to make wildfire rebuilding funding personal gave Newsom yet another opening for an attack.
“Only a truly disturbed person would threaten to withhold aid from victims because they don’t like someone,” Newsom responded.
The increasing vitriol over the ICE arrests and riot response gave Newsom a ready platform to attack Trump. Only a major foreign intervention – a possible U.S. war with Iran – managed to push Newsom out of the headlines – but only for a few days.
As CNN’s Harry Enten pointed out, Google searches for Newsom’s and Trump’s name together have gone up 9,700%, “an all-time high” based on data amassed by the search engine since 2005.
“Donald Trump was able to make a name for himself through “The Apprentice,” through all of his business ventures,” Enten added. “He is now making a name for Gavin Newsom, who seems to relish the fight.”
In response to Newsom’s numerous attacks on Trump during the Los Angeles riots, the Kalshi betting odds on his chances of becoming the Democratic nominee surged while his odds of becoming president also climbed. Those betting odds showed Newsom ahead of many possible Democratic contenders at 12%, followed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and former Treasury Secretary Pete Buttigieg, both at 10%, and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro at 6%.
Garry South, a veteran Democratic operative who ran former Gov. Gray Davis’ successful campaigns, says the reason for the rise in Newsom’s stock is no secret.
“It’s clear that Newsom has made a hero of himself among Democrats by standing up to Trump and his Gestapo tactics,” South told RealClearPolitics “I mean, he did try to play nice, or at least respectfully with Trump at first, but look where it got him. Trump invaded his state like it was a hostile foreign country, and Democrats are out there salivating to try to find somebody that will stand up to Trump and the MAGA forces.”
Newsom’s willingness to take the fight to Trump is a “net positive for his chances to be his party’s nominee,” according to Rob Stutzman, a GOP political consultant who served as deputy chief of staff to former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“It’s TBD in my opinion for his chances of winning the White House,” Stutzman cautioned. “It’s worth noting that Newsom’s focus of criticism has been the deployment of the Marines and federalizing the National Guard much more than ICE.”
Republicans continue to tout polls showing strong support for Trump’s record so far on aggressive immigration enforcement. Still, Trump blasted Fox News this week over a poll showing Americans split on his handling of immigration issues and the southern border. The poll found a majority, 53%, approve of Trump’s handling of border security, while 46% disapprove.
Steve Maviglio, a veteran Democratic consultant asserts that Newsom’s moment in the spotlight lambasting Trump and his administration over immigration this month could be short-lived. Voters in California and elsewhere will be more interested in evaluating his overall record in handling problems such as crime and homelessness across the state, not to mention the slow rebuilding of Los Angeles after the fires, Maviglio said.
“It might be his 15 minutes [of fame] because that type of encounter will be difficult to sustain,” Maviglio told RCP. “Meanwhile, he has to deal with multi-billion-dollar deficits, fire recovery and soaring gas prices without a federal helping hand.”
“That will be a tough tight-rope to walk next year,” he added.
Susan Crabtree is RealClearPolitics' national political correspondent.
