Kristi Noem defends Trump’s National Guard deployment in California with one outlandish claim | indy100

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Just a few months after US president Donald Trump deployed the National Guard in California to shut down protests against raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (also known as ICE for short), his homeland security secretary Kristi Noem has appeared on CBS News’ Face the Nation to defend the Republican’s decision.

Except, she did so by making one truly wild claim.

Trump has faced criticism for bringing in the military in California and Washington D.C. to fight crime, only for troops in Los Angeles to complain that “there’s not much to do” once the protests had concluded, and marines in DC being spotted picking up trash outside the White House.

Awkward.

Expressing her support for her boss’ actions, Noem said on Sunday: “I do know that LA wouldn’t be standing today, if President Trump hadn’t taken action. That city would have burned down if left to the devices of the mayor and the governor of that state.

“So the citizens who live there, the small business owners in downtown LA, they’re thankful that President Trump came in with federal law enforcement officers.”

Yes, really.

And Twitter/X users were left stunned by Noem’s outlandish remarks:

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“They will literally say ANYTHING,” wrote one:

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Another commented: “Imagine being this committed to shoveling Trump’s bulls***”:

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And it’s been described as “beyond parody”:

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Even the press office of California governor Gavin Newsom mocked Noem’s claim:

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Meanwhile, some social media accounts noted Noem previously criticised the deployment of the National Guard at a federal level during Joe Biden’s presidency:

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Trump has threatened to deploy the National Guard in other US cities to tackle crime, including in Chicago, New York, Seattle, Baltimore and San Francisco.

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