Tamara Keith and Amy Walter on the political showdown between Trump and California

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• Geoff Bennett:

  President Trump's deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles has sparked a political showdown between Democrats and his administration.

  On that and more, we turn now to our Politics Monday duo. That's Amy Walter of The Cook Political Report With Amy Walter and Tamara Keith of NPR.

  It's great to see you both.

• Tamara Keith, National Public Radio:

  Hello.

• Amy Walter, The Cook Political Report:

  Good to be back.

• Geoff Bennett:

  So let's start with what's happening in Los Angeles with the deployment of the National Guard, the federalizing of those troops, and then add to that the roughly 700 U.S. Marines who've been deployed. They're now on standby.

  Tam, this is clearly a fight that Donald Trump wants. What is his strategy in escalating the response?

• Tamara Keith:

  President Trump, if you go back to his first term in office, he wants wanted to use the military, use force against protesters.

  He sees the violent imagery, he sees it on television, and his reaction is to want to send in the military. Back in 2020, he said — quote — "If the looting starts, the shooting starts"

  There were — that was in Minnesota that he was referring to, but there were also protests that turned violent in California back then. Now he's saying, "If they spit, we will hit."

  He seems to have a rhyme for every occasion, and he's into this. He wants this fight. He wants this fight with the state of California. Even before this happened over the weekend, late last week, he was talking about wanting to take funding away from California, urging his departments to find ways to take funds from California.

  California's governor was pointing out that California pays more in taxes than it receives in federal services. This was a fight that's been brewing, and now it is at a whole 'nother level.

• Geoff Bennett:

  It's worth mentioning the protests in some places did turn violent.

• Tamara Keith:

  Absolutely.

• Geoff Bennett:

  The chief of the LAPD at one point said he wasn't entirely sure, maybe they did need more help, maybe they did need more National Guard resources.

  But on this point of President Trump, Amy, using the military to paint this perception of toughness and to send a signal to other Democratic-led states and cities, what do you make of it?

• Amy Walter:

  Yes.

  No, I think that's true, and I do think that's why it's been so interesting to watch the Democratic response, especially of Democratic leaders, not just in the state, but nationally. To Tam's point about this is a fight that Donald Trump wants, Democrats know that too. They can see the poll numbers. They remember 2020. They remember 2024.

  And when it comes to issues like this, whether it's crime, whether it is, and now, today, on the issue of immigration, Donald Trump has the benefit of the doubt that he doesn't have on a lot of other issues. So this is a fight that he wants to have. What Democrats are saying is, let's not give him more fuel to keep this fight going.

  You see the mayor of Los Angeles, Gavin Newsom, others saying, please, if you want to protest, that's great. Don't turn it violent. Don't allow this to turn into something that benefits Donald Trump, the signs, the scenes of chaos and police in the streets.

  The question going forward, I think, is how Democrats do talk about these issues, it's going to be really important for the — not just what's happening today in Los Angeles, but just writ large. I think there has been a lot of pullback and a lot of hand-wringing from Democrats about an issue which they used to have an advantage on during the — Trump's first term, they have a disadvantage on now.

  This issue isn't going away. And how Democrats respond to whether this is going to happen in other states, how they address concerns about safety and security, that is going to be critical just for the next — well, forever long.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Well, the risk for Democrats.

  What are the risks for President Trump? Immigration, as you both said, his number one issue.It's number one in terms of that's the one that he cares the most about, but it's also the one from which he derives his best approval numbers.

• Amy Walter:

  Yes.

• Geoff Bennett:

  The risks of overreach.

• Tamara Keith:

  Yes, I think that there definitely isn't a risk of overreach. There is also a risk of the Trump administration looking like they are desperately trying to boost their numbers because they haven't been able to have the sort of sweeping mass deportations that they promised coming into office.

  So part of this is about trying to visibly keep that promise while also picking a fight with California. One thing I will note is that, in California itself, the population of California, 73 percent of adults in the Public Policy Institute of California survey from February of this year said that there should be a way for undocumented immigrants to stay in the country legally. A vast majority say that immigrants benefit California.

  So, in terms of the population of the state, his view is not popular in the state, but that also sort of heightens the fight, which is what he wants.

• Geoff Bennett:

  In the time that remains, let's talk about the infighting within the Democratic National Committee, because Politico reported that the current DNC chair, the new DNC chair, Ken Martin, just months into the job, he privately told Democratic leaders that his new vice chair, David Hogg, you see him there, is making it hard to lead the party.

  And Hogg has vowed to spend millions of dollars in safe blue primaries to oust incumbent Democrats that he views as ineffective. Now, you can say most people aren't really paying attention to what's happening within the DNC right now, but the DNC, in my view, plays a more central role when the party lacks a clear, unifying leader. So what's all this mean and what's it mean for the party?

• Tamara Keith:

  Yes, there's this quote from Ken Martin that I saw where he says he took this job to fight Republicans, not Democrats.

  But, right now, Democrats are fighting with each other in terms of the DNC and this leadership fight. There is a decision being made about whether they should take a revote on who — on this position that Hogg is in currently. There used to be a commandment in politics that you don't go after incumbents from your own party. Hogg's view is not that.

  And, also, he is — David Hogg is remarkably good at getting attention. Ken Martin, that is not his greatest skill set, is getting attention.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Amy?

• Amy Walter:

  Yes, and I think it speaks to the broader conversation that Democrats are having about, who do we want to be going forward? David Hogg represents the younger generation that has felt incredibly frustrated with Democratic politicians, really going all the way back to 2016, when young voters said, we want Bernie Sanders.

  They have actually said that in three successive elections. So this is a fight actually Democrats should welcome having right now, because 2028 is when they want — they should want the team to be on the same page. If you're going to get there, you got to have the disagreements, whether it's of the DNC, but it's certainly going to be happening within primaries and just more broadly within conversations with the Democratic Party leadership.

• Geoff Bennett:

  So get it out of the way in June 2025.

• Amy Walter:

  Right.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Don't let this be happening in October…

• Amy Walter:

  That's right, in June of 2028.

• Geoff Bennett:

  That's right.

• Tamara Keith:

  Well, they may or may not be able to control that for themselves here.

  (Crosstalk)

• Geoff Bennett:

  We shall see.

  Amy Walter and Tamara Keith, thanks to you both.

• Tamara Keith:

  You're welcome.

• Amy Walter:

  You're welcome.