'Morale' plummets as Trump uses Marines as 'political pawns'

Only on rare occasions have U.S. presidents federalized National Guard troops. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson deployed federalized Alabama National Guard troops in order to protect civil rights activists when Gov. George Wallace — a militant segregationist — openly defied the end of Jim Crow laws. And during the Los Angeles riots in 1992, President George H.W. Bush federalized California National Guard troops and invoked the Insurrection Act of 1807 at the request of Gov. Pete Wilson.

President Donald Trump, in contrast, federalized California National Guard troops and is sending U.S. Marines to Downtown Los Angeles despite vehement opposition from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and L.A. Police Chief Jim McDonnell — all of whom believe Trump is making a tense situation worse.

But California officials aren't the only ones speaking out against Trump's response to the protests in Downtown L.A. According to The Guardian's Andrew Gumble, U.S. Marines themselves believe that sending them to the demonstrations is a very bad idea.

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In an article published on June 12, Gumble reports, "Three different advocacy organizations representing military families said they had heard from dozens of affected service members who expressed discomfort about being drawn into a domestic policing operation outside their normal field of operations. The groups said they have heard no countervailing opinions."

Sarah Streyder of the Secure Families Initiative told The Guardian, "The sentiment across the board right now is that deploying military force against our own communities isn't the kind of national security we signed up for. Families are scared not just for their loved ones' safety, although that’s a big concern, but also for what their service is being used to justify."

Chris Purdy of the Chamberlain Network told The Guardian, "'Morale is not great' is the quote I keep hearing."

According to Janessa Goldbeck, who operates Vet Voice Foundation and is herself a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, the Marines she's been speaking to resent being sent to the Downtown L.A. protests.

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Goldbeck told The Guardian, "Among all that I spoke with, the feeling was that the Marines are being used as political pawns, and it strains the perception that Marines are apolitical. Some were concerned that the Marines were being set up for failure. The overall perception was that the situation was nowhere at the level where Marines were necessary."

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Read the full Guardian article at this link.