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President Donald Trump is defending his muscular and controversial moves to tame unrest in the nation’s second most populous city.
“If I didn’t “SEND IN THE TROOPS” to Los Angeles the last three nights, that once beautiful and great City would be burning to the ground right now,” the president argued Tuesday in a social media post.
Aiming to extinguish escalating protests in Los Angeles sparked by immigration raids carried out by ICE at his administration’s direction, Trump sent in National Guard troops and even mobilized Marines.
Trump broke six decades of precedent by federalizing California’s National Guard without the consent of Gov. Gavin Newsom.
CLICK HERE FOR FOX NEWS LIVE UPDATES ON THE ANTI-ICE PROTESTS IN LOS ANGELES
Protesters block the intersection of 2nd St. and San Pedro St. during Monday night’s anti-ICE rally in downtown Los Angeles. (Peter D’Abrosca for Fox News Digital)
Regardless of the legality of his moves, Trump’s actions put immigration and law and order – key issues that helped him win back the White House in last year’s election – firmly back in the national spotlight, offering the president obvious political opportunities.
A source in the president’s political orbit told Fox News that it is “a winning script,” by putting Democrats on defense once again regarding immigration.
Additionally, the source said that Trump has a clear mandate from American voters for his mass deportation effort to clear the country of undocumented immigrants.
MARINES BEING DEPLOYED TO LOS ANGELES AMID RIOTS AS CALIFORNIA MOVES TO SUE TRUMP OVER RESPONSE
The optics – clashes with police and tear gas in the streets, masked protesters throwing rocks at police, setting cars on fire and waving Mexican flags – may likely boost support among a large swath of Americans, bolstering Trump’s political playbook.
While Trump’s overall approval ratings remain underwater in most national polling, thanks to negative numbers on…
