To be clear, not since the civil rights era has a President threatened to federalize or federalized a state national guard against a governor's wishes (LA Riots was requested; Bush wouldn't do it during Katrina b/c of Gov Blanco's protests). This time, Gov is on the right side 2/
Do not view the use of military as necessarily bad or always helpful. Military is complicated; different status' for homeland vs. foreign, different chains of command under different Titles. National Guard is trained for civilian deployment to support local authorities. 3/
What I do know is that Trump's "activation" threat was done orally with no invocation of Insurrection Act (arguably an exception to the general prohibitions in Posse Comitatus), seems to be being ignored by Pentagon (which said "Title X (active) not being considered), and is 4/
likely contributing to Walz's reaction. He'll do it first, avoid a federal showdown, and then deploy as necessary. Said it yesterday, you can think Trump is egging on race wars and also have been dismayed by #Minneapolis flat-footedness Thursday night. 5/5
