Trump's Guard deployment is weakening the firefighting force in Cali

[summer_in_TX]

BREAKING: Trump Didn’t Just Deploy the National Guard to L.A. – He Weakened California’s Firefighting Force

… all 2,000 National Guard troops deployed to Los Angeles came from the single unit California depends on to fight wildfires. Many of these troops serve in Taskforce Rattlesnake — a specialised, embedded wildfire crew trained in fire mitigation, prevention, and direct suppression.

The crews of Taskforce Rattlesnake are not general-purpose fire crews. According to the Department of Defense, these are specialised units within the California National Guard, built to address the increasing scale and intensity of the state’s wildfires. They are fully embedded within California’s firefighting system. They train, deploy, and operate alongside Cal Fire, and work year-round.

That 1 in 54 selection doesn't look random. It’s statistically unlikely to be accidental, especially when other units were locally available that had no connection to the state’s wildfire response. He could have drawn from the 40th Infantry Division headquarters, the 1st Battalion of the 144th Field Artillery Regiment, the Combat Aviation Brigade, the Sustainment Brigade, or even military police units.

Writer Lori Corbet Mann refers back to a recent Substack of hers (BREAKING: How Trump Plans to Use Wildfires to Redraw American Federalism) in the next excerpt.

When I wrote — less than a week ago — about how the Trump administration is using wildfire policy to redraw American federalism, I said the next phase would move quickly. It looks now like it already had.

I don’t know if any California news media have made the connection between the exact National Guard unit that Trump deployed to LA, but it sure doesn’t look like a coincidence that it is from the elite firefighting unit.

But as of July 1 it looks like the firefighting unit has finally been allowed to go back to their critical firefighting role.
https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/07/01/national-guard-firefighters-finally-back-to-work-but-trumps-militarization-of-la-has-pulled-cops-from-the-street-and-teachers-out-of-classrooms/

[Irish_Dem]

1. Trump loves having the power of life and death over Americans.

It turns him on.