Los Angeles Is Not a War Zone: We Need De-escalation, Not Occupation

Parts of Los Angeles are on edge. The TV is going to make it seem like it is all of LA county. But it is not. What began as civil unrest is teetering on the brink of full-scale riot — not because the people are inherently violent, but because every response from those in power seems designed to provoke rather than pacify.

Let’s be clear: violence is rarely, if ever, the answer. But neither is using armed military forces to patrol American city streets.

President Trump’s decision to federalize the California National Guard, and his open threat to deploy Marines or additional military forces, has only fanned the flames. This isn’t leadership — it’s escalation. And it’s not the first time we’ve seen this movie. From the Watts riots to Ferguson to January 6, history tells us the same story: send in troops, watch tensions skyrocket, and brace for tragedy.

Military personnel are not trained for crowd control in civilian spaces. They are trained for war. They are not equipped to de-escalate, to listen, to understand. They’re trained to neutralize threats, which is a dangerous mindset to import into an already-tense urban setting. When has a tank rolling down Main Street ever made anyone feel safer?

Meanwhile, we have ICE agents — masked, heavily armed, and reportedly detaining people in places like Home Depot — thanks, in part, to Stephen Miller’s ongoing crusade to remake America into a fortress of fear. These are not targeted operations. They are theater — threatening, intimidating, and ultimately counterproductive. The optics are horrifying. The consequences, potentially deadly.

LAPD, for its part, has failed to lead with restraint. Video after video shows aggressive tactics, poor communication, and an unwillingness to engage with peaceful demonstrators as human beings. When people are met with riot shields and rubber bullets for chanting, is it any surprise that some lash out in frustration?

And as if things weren’t chaotic enough, we have former right-wing pundit, now Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth — a man with zero experience in crisis management or law enforcement — playing armchair general, fanning the flames for clicks and clout. Meanwhile, Trump’s Twitter tirades (now bouncing between his platform and jabs at Elon Musk on X) read more like the ramblings of a wounded ego than the directives of a steady hand. Billionaires battling over ego while cities burn? That’s the America we live in?

And let’s not ignore the backdrop: an economy in decline, a budget bill collapsing under its own contradictions, too many unqualified people in the presidents cabinet all eager to just kiss his ass and a Republican Party with no moral backbone. Top this with Trumps name being in the Epstein files. What better distraction than chaos in the streets?

I talk to veterans. Real ones. The vast majority are disgusted. They signed up to serve and protect, not to become props in a domestic political stunt. None of them believe troops should be patrolling U.S. cities. And then there are the cosplay commandos — the “militia” guys who love dressing up in tactical gear, fantasizing about being heroes in some Red Dawn sequel. They cheer this madness on from the sidelines, but they wouldn’t last a minute in the middle of it.

We know what de-escalation looks like. It means listening. It means dialogue. It means showing restraint — especially when you have the power and the weapons. It means bringing in community leaders, not armored personnel carriers.

This is a moment of choice. We can continue down this path — a path where someone is almost certainly going to die — or we can step back and begin to heal. The chaos we see in Los Angeles is not the disease. It is the symptom. The real illness is leadership that prefers domination to diplomacy, and spectacle to solutions.

We don’t need soldiers. We need sanity.