MSNBC’s Robinson: Trump’s Following Precedent on National Guard in CA
On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” MSNBC Political Analyst Eugene Robinson said that he understands the court ruling allowing President Donald Trump to control California National Guard troops over the wishes of California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and noted that other presidents have federalized state National Guards despite opposition from governors before.
Robinson said, “On the National Guard, I actually, maybe, I’m not a lawyer, I don’t think that’s that radical, because I remember a couple of instances where Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, during the Civil Rights Movement, federalized the National Guard of Alabama in order to enforce civil rights laws.”
Co-host Joe Scarborough then cut in to state, “And by the way, those governors did not want that to happen either. So, people who are saying, oh my God, a president can’t do this when a governor doesn’t want them to come in, they never heard the tape recordings between the Kennedy administration and the southern governors.”
Robinson responded, “Exactly. They made George Wallace step aside from the schoolhouse door so the University of Alabama could be…integrated. So, that I understand. Can you withhold already appropriated transportation funds because a state isn’t doing what you want on cooperating with ICE? I don’t think you can do that. I’m not sure that even this Supreme Court is going to agree that a president can do that. That’s a bridge too far.”
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