By: Vincent L. Hall
The last time a sitting president called the National Guard against the will of a duly elected governor was in 1965. LBJ sent our primary reserve military force marching toward Alabama to guard civil rights demonstrators. That was in mid- March, a few days after Bloody Sunday.
Just over 60 years later, Donald Trump, aka “President TACO”, found it fit to usurp the sovereign authority of California’s Gavin Newsom.
But this time, the troops weren’t sent to protect the demonstrators, Trump sent them there to break the backs of protestors in Compton, and all points contingent!
At some point, Trump will likely initiate his defense by claiming, “They did it!”
But look at what happened in both cases on a factual and historical basis.
In 1965, Alabama Governor George Wallace, unlike Trump, was an open and unabashed segregationist.
It was Wallace’s original thought and pledge to place the National Guard on-site to protect the marchers. When he changed his mind, LBJ was peeved and dispatched the guard himself.
In 2025, President Donald J. Trump, seeing another opportunity to advance his wish to remake America into an authoritarian state, passed “Go” so quickly that he failed to “Collect $200” and declared himself “Mr. Monopoly.”
Newsom was the one who got peeved this time and promised to file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Trump’s power grab.
But here is the kicker.
President Taco’s shell game can go wrong on any given night. The L.A. protesters of today are not the same as those of 1968 (Watts), or 1995 (Rodney King verdict)
There can be no repeats of the Kent State Massacre in 1970 when 28 National Guard officers (untrained at urban policing) fired 67 rounds in 13 seconds, killing four students and injuring another nine.
Ironically and consequently, the same expanded gun rights legislation that helped Trump get elected the first time could be an albatross around his presidency this time.
If you don’t know any young men, you have no idea how well-armed and well-trained many of them are with automatic weaponry. This “ish could go sideways in far less than 67 seconds.
Just as the people of Kyiv in Ukraine are determined to live in a democracy, so are the residents of Compton. The threat of death is not a deterrent, it’s a duty.
However, there is one change that frightens me most as a veteran protester here in Dallas for more 10 years. We never protested at night. All manners of evil lurk under the cover of darkness.
A whole new set and subset of lone wolves and psychopaths gain the benefit of using the “crowd” as a shield.
Trump must learn what Russia has learned. Nuclear weapons “Do not a superpower make.”
Russia and America can obliterate the world, but the playing field for war gets leveled when you come to someone else’s backyard. Not to mention the dangers that can be created with a drone and a healthy imagination.
Just ask Russia what happened to those 44 planes they had poised to attack Ukraine.
The truth is, whether it’s Kyiv or Compton, domination and authoritarianism won’t be tolerated.
This generation would rather die than be oppressed, and not even the National Guard is a match for the will of the people.
Let Freedom Ring!
A long-time Texas Metro News columnist, Dallas native Vincent L. Hall is an author, writer, award-winning writer, and a lifelong Drapetomaniac.
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