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| National Guard: No beds, water, food or toilets (SF Chronicle) |
(Note: A second photo from the Chronicle can be viewed at the end of this post.)
By now, no one should be surprised to learn that the Trump administration is incompetent. But three days ago, we received new evidence that "King Donald" is running such a slipshod operation that it's downright nauseating. That's because it involves abusive treatment of our own military personnel. Given that Trump already has made nasty comments about those who have put their lives on the line for our country -- deeming them "suckers and losers," implying a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff should be executed, even turning a visit with staffers to Arlington National Cemetery into a campaign event, pushing aside a U.S. Army official in the process . . . well, it's hard to believe that any American still could support such a cretin in the White House.
What makes the latest episode of ineptitude so gross? The San Francisco Chronicle provides the answer under the headline "‘Wildly underprepared’: National Guard troops seen sleeping on floors in exclusive photos." Matthias Gafni reports:
President Donald Trump’s rush to deploy California National Guard troops to Los Angeles has left dozens of soldiers without adequate sleeping arrangements, forced to pack together in one or more federal buildings, resting on the floors of what appear to be basements or loading docks, the Chronicle has learned.
The state troops federalized by the Trump administration over the weekend to confront immigration protesters, without the approval of Gov. Gavin Newsom, were “wildly underprepared,” said a person directly involved with the deployment, who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak on the issue.
The troops — whose makeshift quarters are shown in photographs exclusively obtained by the Chronicle — arrived without federal funding for basic necessities, said the source, who was granted confidentiality under Chronicle policies. This person said state officials and the California National Guard were not to blame.
Senior military leaders advised Monday that the California troops could continue sleeping on floors or outdoors until Thursday, at which point federal officials would decide whether to make more permanent lodging plans, the source said. By Monday afternoon, additional National Guard troops were expected to reach Los Angeles, upping the total from around 300 late Saturday to more than 2,100.
It was unclear where the new arrivals would stay at night, the source said, with only a few hundred available tents.
“This is what happens when the president and (Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth) demand the National Guard state assets deploy immediately with no plan in place … (and) no federal funding available for food, water, fuel and lodging,” the source said. “This is really the failure of the federal government. If you’re going to federalize these troops, then take care of them.”
Is this the Trump administration's way of showing appalling lack of respect for U.S. military personnel, something the president himself has done several times in the past? Is there any other way to put it? Gafni writes:
“Currently, there is no plan for where everyone is sleeping tonight,” the source said, adding that there was an urgent need to find more portable bathrooms and dumpsters for garbage.
The Pentagon referred questions about troop provisions to the California Guard, which in turn referred questions to the U.S. Special Operations Command North, which did not immediately respond to the Chronicle.
Protesters clashed with law enforcement officers through the weekend in Los Angeles, in some cases burning vehicles and hurling rocks. President Trump’s order to deploy the National Guard troops said protest activity or violence that interfered with the activity of immigration officials constituted “a form of rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.”
His order deployed the soldiers for 60 days or at Hegseth’s discretion.
National Guard troops can be summoned by any state governor or a U.S. president under certain conditions. Ordinarily, though, presidents activate the National Guard at the request of state leaders and have only rarely made the decision to activate troops independent of a governor’s petition for assistance. In contrast, California officials sharply criticized Trump’s move and sought to reverse it.
The Chronicle published photos of National Guard members sleeping on a floor, prompting a flood of outrage directed at the White House. Conservative users on X attacked the messenger, claiming the photos were fake. Two fact-checking organizations, Snopes and Politifact, looked into the accusations before Pentagon officials confirmed the photos were authentic:
“The soldiers you saw in the photo were resting as they were not currently on mission and due to the fluid security situation, it was deemed too dangerous for them to travel to better accommodations,” a Defense Department spokesperson told Snopes.
Gafni provides more details about the photos his newspaper published:
The two photos the Chronicle obtained show troops asleep in one or more of the three federal buildings they had been ordered to protect. In one photo, the troops slept next to what appeared to be a security checkpoint, with Red Bulls, backpacks and rifles strewn about the makeshift quarters.
In the second photo, dozens of troops appeared to be sleeping in a larger room on concrete floors with their backpacks and other equipment next to them. The source said they redacted the name of one soldier that appeared in the photo.
Newsom responded to the images by condemning Trump’s handling of the deployment.
“You sent your troops here without fuel, food, water or a place to sleep,” Newsom wrote in a post on X. “Here they are — being forced to sleep on the floor, piled on top of one another.”Several members of the state Legislature were dismayed by the pictures.
“Oh my God, this is horrible,” said Assembly Member Pilar Schiavo, D-Chatsworth (Los Angeles County), when a Chronicle reporter showed her the photos. “That’s incredibly shocking and concerning.”
Assembly Member Rick Chavez Zbur, D-Los Angeles, said he was “appalled” by the conditions depicted, adding that it “shows the lack of respect” the president has for men and women who serve in the military.
“I think this speaks to what the governor has talked about and others have talked about, a complete lack of coordination and communication, which is what we would expect if you actually want law and order instead of chaos and disorder,” said Assembly Member Ash Kalra, D-San Jose, “This has nothing to do with public safety, it’s all a show, it’s all propaganda, and we’re demanding that it stop.”
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| (SF Chronicle) |
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