California Governor Gavin Newsom unloaded on President Donald Trump Sunday amid violent protests in Los Angeles ... accusing the commander-in-chief of being a bald-faced liar and wanting to start a civil war over his immigration policies.
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00:00Well, the powder keg has exploded.
00:02All of the tension in L.A., I mean, it's been across the country,
00:07but here in California, in L.A. especially, the ice raids going down,
00:12as you saw all weekend, led to first peaceful protest
00:16and then all-out mayhem in downtown L.A.
00:21with police squaring off against protesters, protesters pushing back.
00:26And then when the National Guard arrived at the federal buildings,
00:30things really got amped up.
00:32And this has all, like I said, it's all about the protests over the immigration raids.
00:39Started over that.
00:40Yes.
00:40And then there's a whole lot of people that just like chaos,
00:44that show up at event after event and cause problems.
00:48And start the violence.
00:49And so we've seen a mix of legitimate protesters and people who are,
00:54I don't think, are reading policy papers about immigration policy.
00:57Not at all.
00:57Just want to mess things up.
00:59Yeah.
00:59And that's been some of the biggest problems that we've seen,
01:02including this with a bunch of Waymos that were called into downtown L.A.
01:06Those are the self-driving cars.
01:07And then people lit them on fire.
01:09Wow.
01:10A really scary weekend here in Los Angeles.
01:13And part of this is also, you know, the fallout from it was this battle that has been there for years.
01:21But the battle between President Trump and California's Governor Gavin Newsom really amped up as well.
01:27We thought Elon Musk and Trump last week was a thing.
01:30And it was.
01:31It's forgotten now because now you have the president and the governor going at each other.
01:37And you had the border czar, Tom Homan, saying, we should, you know, if necessary, we should go in and arrest Governor Newsom.
01:46I can't believe he said it.
01:49Right.
01:50And Governor Newsom responded in an interview with MSNBC's Jacob Soberoff.
01:55Basically, I'm right here.
01:57Come get me.
01:58Come get me.
01:58You know, and arrest me instead of some of the, you know, people that you're arresting instead.
02:04So here's what President Trump had to say about that, that dare from Governor Newsom.
02:10This is what he said this morning on the White House lawn.
02:12Gavin Newsom is, he's daring Tom Homan to come and arrest him.
02:19Should he do it?
02:20I would do it.
02:21If I was Tom, I think it's great.
02:23Gavin likes the publicity, but I think it would be a great thing.
02:26He's done a terrible job.
02:28Look, I like Gavin Newsom.
02:31He's a nice guy, but he's grossly incompetent.
02:33Everybody knows.
02:34All you have to do is look at the little railroad he's building.
02:37It's about 100 times over budget.
02:40We're putting a flagpole over there.
02:42Under budget.
02:43I always do under budget.
02:44He's referencing California's high-speed rail system, which has been kind of a debacle in terms of building it.
02:49But you see, like, there's a little bit of a smile.
02:52Oh, my.
02:52There was a gleam in his eye the second they brought it up.
02:55They've actually had this very weird, complicated, kind of great, kind of terrible relationship for a long time.
03:03I think there's a lot about Newsom that Trump actually respects.
03:07He sees him as somebody who's handsome and rich and powerful and has a beautiful wife and a lot of things that Trump likes.
03:14Yeah, things he likes if he were only on Trump's side of the aisle and he's not.
03:18And so, therefore, you hear him say things like he's incompetent and picking them apart.
03:22And so I sat down with Governor Newsom last night for Fox 11 Los Angeles and for our statewide political show, The Issue Is, and he's really ramping things up.
03:32Take a listen.
03:33He came out and said that when you guys spoke, he warned you that if you didn't get things under control, he was going to bring in proofs.
03:41Stone-cold liar.
03:43Stone-cold liar.
03:46He made that up.
03:47Like, he makes up so many other things.
03:49He never said that.
03:50And he also seemed to make up this idea that the National Guard did a great job last night when they weren't here.
04:00They weren't even deployed, and he claimed victory.
04:03He's lost it.
04:04He's making things up, and he's putting people's lives at risk.
04:09He's not for peacemaking.
04:10He's here for war.
04:12He wants a civil war on the streets of America, not just here.
04:16He's testing the boundaries by nationalizing the Federal Guard.
04:20Well, those words, civil war, are words that have been spoken in this office for a long time.
04:28Really, about five years now, Harvey has been talking about feeling like we are moving towards civil war.
04:35We didn't necessarily think of it in this context, but I've got to say, it looked like it this weekend.
04:43So, I know Harvey is on vacation, but he is obviously seeing what's going on here and wanted to join us.
04:51Harv, scary time.
04:54How did we get this booking, by the way?
04:55How did we?
04:56I know, it was very tough.
04:57It was very tough.
04:58He's a busy man.
04:59But your feelings about what you saw unfolding here, I can't imagine you woke up and then saw scenes that look like civil war.
05:10Well, it is a protest bordering on a riot, which I think can easily devolve into a civil war.
05:19That, you know, this is not as precise as the North versus the South in the 1800s.
05:26You know, when you talk about Los Angeles, 40% of the population is Latino.
05:31And they're not in one pocket.
05:33They're everywhere.
05:34And when you have a flashpoint, like we did in 92 with Reginald Denny, that erupts the city,
05:42that if it erupts in one place, it erupts everywhere.
05:45So, yeah, I'm feeling it.
05:47I covered those riots.
05:49And I saw the way it worked.
05:51And it happened like that.
05:53I was in Simi Valley at 5 o'clock for the verdict.
05:56And I was in South L.A. for the riots at 7 o'clock.
06:01And it happened very quickly.
06:02And it happened all over.
06:04I think this is going to be more widespread if it happens.
06:07But the other thing that I got to say that I am looking at, guys, is look at what's going on in this country right now.
06:15We have tanks on the West Coast or military on the West Coast, tanks on the East Coast celebrating Donald Trump's birthday,
06:23a pledge to call out the military, which he's already done in defiance of the governor.
06:30And he's supposed to consult.
06:31And then you go back and you look at what he said during the campaign.
06:34And he said that this is something he wanted.
06:38He wanted to send out the military.
06:41And the fact is, when you look at the polling, I mean, 50 percent of the country is behind this.
06:49Right. There are people who voted for President Trump for this very purpose.
06:55And immigration, he knows, is the topic that he's winning on.
07:01Of all issues, it's the one that he polls the best on.
07:04And that's what makes this complicated, Harvey, because it's almost like the president has a political incentive to keep this going.
07:14Leaning into the fight is good politically for Donald Trump.
07:18We're not talking about Elon Musk anymore.
07:20We're not talking about the problems with the big, beautiful bill.
07:24We're leaning into his biggest, strongest issue.
07:27He gets to fight with blue state governor and a blue state mayor that most of his base hates.
07:34And he gets to, in his mind, look strong.
07:37And in some ways, also, it's good for Governor Newsom and good for Mayor Bass,
07:41both of whom get to focus on what their base doesn't like, which is Donald Trump,
07:46instead of some of the thorny issues of their budget.
07:49And who kind of loses in all this?
07:50The regular people who have all this chaos.
07:54Well, the one thing Donald Trump has that Newsom and Bass don't have, he has the military.
07:59And I got to tell you that, you know, there are a lot of people who say,
08:03oh, we're never going to become an authoritarian country.
08:06But you look at what's going on.
08:08Can't you feel it?
08:09That you're looking at a military parade in Washington this week.
08:13You're looking at possibly the Marines being called in Los Angeles.
08:18A president threatening a governor with arrest.
08:23I mean, just take that in and look at where it's going.
08:27I don't think Trump needed to be incentivized to do this or to deflect what was going on
08:34with something else in the country.
08:37I think he wanted this.
08:38This is his dream.
08:40This is his dream.
08:41And it's a really interesting moment if you're like a Democratic governor like Gavin Newsom.
08:47I asked him, what do you do?
08:49How do you negotiate with this guy?
08:50How do we calm down the situation?
08:53And his point was, you can't negotiate with this guy.
08:56I've tried everything there is to do.
08:58And there's no negotiating.
09:00You can't calm it down when he controls the military.
09:03Because he can always pull that lever.
09:05Yeah.
09:05So it's just not clear how this ends.
09:08And unfortunately, it seems like it's only going to get worse.
09:11I'm glad I'm an old man.
09:13Oh, God.
09:15That's depressing.
09:16Well, you look great.
09:17You look really young.
09:19Hey, Arv, listen, before you go, I just want you to see this.
09:22That it's not just when you and I are hosting.
09:25See?
09:25We did the same shirt.
09:28See?
09:29It just happens.
09:30I don't know.
09:32I don't know.
09:32You are absolutely right.
09:34Are you enjoying vacation, though, despite all this?
09:37Yeah, I'm enjoying it until I turn the television on.
09:40And it's like, holy crap.
09:41Yeah, and everything's falling apart.
09:43Just go and enjoy it while you can.
09:46Okay, guys.
09:47We'll see you.
09:47Babylon will be burning when you come back.
09:49We'll see you.
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