A California senator was forcibly removed from a news conference. Trump’s military parade this weekend is spurring nationwide protests. The House approved a DOGE-inspired package of funding cuts. The U.

President Trump responded by sidestepping the state’s Democratic governor and deploying 2,000 National Guard members to the city. He portrayed the demonstrations as an existential threat to the country, and called the protesters “insurrectionists,” in what may become a rationale for him to invoke the Insurrection Act.

The divergent approaches taken by California and Texas’ governors shows how the two parties are trying to navigate national politics and the role of executive power.