‘Other States Are Next’: California Gov. Gavin Newsom Addresses Nation in Speech Against Trump

“What’s happening right now is very different than anything we’ve seen before,” Gavin Newsom, the Governor of California, said in a speech Tuesday night that was seemingly addressed as much to his own state’s residents as to the nation.

“This isn’t just about protests here in Los Angeles. When Donald Trump sought blanket authority to commandeer the National Guard, he made that order apply to every state in this nation,” Newsom said amid days of unrest in southern California after the President mobilized troops to quell violence and vandalism that had broken out during demonstrations against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids—an escalation Newsom called a “brazen abuse of power” that “inflamed a combustible situation.”

“This is about all of us. This is about you,” Newsom said. “California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next.”

Newsom lambasted Trump, calling him a President who “wants to be bound by no law or constitution, perpetuating a unified assault on American traditions.” And he repeated his assertion that Trump was “fanning the flames” in Los Angeles “on purpose.”

Newsom claimed that California could have managed the criminal behavior on its streets with its own law enforcement. “The situation was winding down and was concentrated in just a few square blocks downtown,” Newsom said. “But that—that’s not what Donald Trump wanted. He again chose escalation. He chose more force. He chose theatrics over public safety.”

Newsom said the deployment of National Guard and Marine forces was done “illegally and for no reason” and pointed to a legal challenge filed by the state against the Trump Administration. 

“These are the men and women trained for foreign combat, not domestic law enforcement. We honor their service, we honor their bravery, but we do not want our streets militarized by our own armed forces—not in L.A., not in California, not anywhere.”

Newsom, whose second and final term ends in 2027 and is considered to be a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2028, focused much of his less-than-10-minute speech on pushing back against Trump’s mass deportation effort, which the California Governor linked to a broader slide towards authoritarianism.

“California is no stranger to immigration enforcement, but instead of focusing on undocumented immigrants with serious criminal records and people with final deportation orders, a strategy both parties have long supported, this Administration is pushing mass deportations, indiscriminately targeting hard working immigrant families regardless of their roots or risk,” Newsom said.

He spoke of the fear undocumented residents feel, saying that the Trump Administration is “pulling a military dragnet” across Los Angeles. “We’re seeing unmarked cars in school parking lots, kids afraid of attending their own graduation. … His agents are arresting dishwashers, gardeners, day laborers, and seamstresses. That’s just weakness, weakness masquerading as strength. Donald Trump’s government isn’t protecting our communities. They’re traumatizing our communities. And that seems to be the entire point.”

“If some of us could be snatched off the streets without a warrant, based only on suspicion or skin color, then none of us are safe,” Newsom added. “Authoritarian regimes begin by targeting people who are least able to defend themselves, but they do not stop there. Trump and his loyalists—they thrive on division because it allows them to take more power and exert even more control.”

The 57-year-old Democrat who has been criticized by some for earlier this year appearing to take a more moderate tack as his national ambitions grow  also outlined a list of criticisms of Trump that extended beyond immigration, including the firing of government watchdogs; attacking news organizations, universities, law firms, and the judicial branch; and holding a military parade on Saturday, “forcing them to put on a vulgar display to celebrate his birthday, just as other failed dictators have done in the past.”

“Democracy is under assault before our eyes,” Newsom said, charging Trump with taking “a wrecking ball” to the principle of three co-equal branches of government. “There are no longer any checks and balances. Congress is nowhere to be found. Speaker Johnson has completely abdicated that responsibility. The Rule of Law has increasingly been giving way to the Rule of Don.”

Trump, who has nicknamed Newsom “Newscum” on social media and called for the Governor to be arrested earlier this week, did not immediately respond to Newsom’s remarks on Tuesday night.

Newsom ended the speech with a call to action. “The Founding Fathers—they didn’t live and die to see this kind of moment. It’s time for all of us to stand up,” he said. “If you exercise your First Amendment rights, please, please do it peacefully. I know many of you are feeling deep anxiety, stress, and fear, but I want you to know that you are the antidote to that fear and that anxiety. What Donald Trump wants most is your fealty, your silence, to be complicit in this moment. Do not give in to him.”