Why all signs are pointing to ‘World War III’ amid US riots
As the street of LA burn amid fiery protests, some experts have warned that it could be the start of ‘World War III’.
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Culture war? Race war? Civil War? World War III?
It all depends on where one stands within the political spectrum tearing the United States apart.
US President Donald Trump’s unprecedented response to hundreds of violent protesters on the streets of Los Angeles has certainly triggered an emotive war of words.
“They’re foreigners that are doing this. You see the Mexican flags. You see the Palestinian flags. This is a war,” former Presidential adviser and convicted fraudster Steve Bannon,71, proclaimed today.
Protests flared Friday in response to a major Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) push to detain undocumented residents across Los Angeles. LA has defied Federal law by declaring itself a “sanctuary city” - where government agencies refuse to assist in enforcing Washington DC’s immigration enforcement policies.
California’s Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday accused the Trump administration of wanting to create “civil war” by arbitrarily deploying National Guard troops and active service Marines.
Trump rejected the accusation.
“No, it’s the opposite. I don’t want a civil war. Civil war would happen if you left it to people like him,” Trump retorted.
Governor Newsom has appealed to the US Federal Court, accusing the White House of an “illegal, unconstitutional act in federalising the National Guard”, which has resulted in putting lives at risk.
“He’s not for peacemaking, he’s here for civil war on the streets,” Newsom said.
But this time, Trump, 78, appears to have the law on his side.
The President has invoked Section 12406 of armed forces law (Title 10), which authorises the Commander-in-Chief to commandeer National Guard forces whenever “there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority” of the Federal government. And when unrest prevents the execution of federal law by regular law enforcement agencies.
Trump gets to decide when these criteria have been met.
Bannon, however, insists there can be no disputing the President’s authority.
The Make America Great Again (MAGA) mouthpiece doesn’t think the protest is criminal. He doesn’t think it is insurrection. Or rebellion.
He insists it is a war of “invasion”. And war is the business of the President.
“This is not a civil war. This is part of the Third World War.”
“If they spit, we will hit”
This is a statement from the President of the United States.
Trump posted to his personal social media platform today.
“The Insurrectionists have a tendency to spit in the face of the National Guardsmen/women, and others. These Patriots are told to accept this, it’s just the way life runs. But not in the Trump Administration. IF THEY SPIT, WE WILL HIT, and I promise you they will be hit harder than they have ever been hit before.”
The 47th President has backed his fighting words by ordering 700 active service Marine troops to stand alongside 2000 National Guard infantry troops already ordered into downtown Los Angeles.
The Commander-in-Chief can intervene when federal agents are being prevented from enforcing federal law.
And ICE officers have the authority to locate and detain illegal immigrants, argues Brookings Institution Lawfare analyst Benjamin Wittes.
“Thus, to say that ICE has the legal authority to detain large numbers of people in Los Angeles is not to say doing so in the face of community opposition is wise, prudent or smart,” he adds.
It’s a similar scenario for sending in troops.
NEW: We are suing Donald Trump.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 9, 2025
This is a manufactured crisis. He is creating fear and terror to take over a state militia and violate the U.S. constitution.
The illegal order he signed could allow him to send the military into ANY STATE HE WISHES.
Every governor -- red or…
“Not all crimes require a federal response,” Wittes explains. “Normally, people throwing rocks or burning cars in Los Angeles are handled by local authorities.”
“Scattered acts of violence in the course of protests against ICE activities is something less than a rebellion. It is something less than a threatened rebellion.
“It is also something notably less than a “violent insurrectionist mob,” as the President – who knows a little something about violent, insurrectionist mobs – is very well aware.”
Former federal prosecutor and National Review fellow Andrew McCarthy agrees - to a point.
“Having mass-pardoned rioters who stormed the Capitol and injured scores of police officers, this president is morally ill-suited to invoke extraordinary powers to put down political violence that obstructs federal functions,” McCarthy states.
“Implicit in that contention, though, is that these extraordinary powers are, in fact, embedded in our law.”
Repelling “invasion”
“The situation became escalated when THEY deployed troops,” Newsom posted to X Monday morning Australian time.
“Donald Trump has manufactured a crisis and is inflaming conditions. He clearly can’t solve this, so California will.”
This just fed the flames of the partisan-political tit-for-tat rhetoric cycle.
“LA is on FIRE right now, but instead of tackling the issue, Gavin Newsom is spending his time attacking Secretary Hegseth,” chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell tweeted.
“Unlike Newsom, [Defence Secretary Hegseth] isn’t afraid to lead.”
But the fires have so far been limited to a few cars and flags. And protesters pushed a blazing dumpster into the middle of a street, away from a nearby building and parked vehicles.
Newsom retorted against Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth, labelling him “a joke”, adding that deploying Marines against civilians was “deranged behaviour.”
Anti-ICE rioters in LA started a dumpster fire and pushed it into the street. Some in the crowd are adding stuff to keep the fire going. pic.twitter.com/pn439EkF5K
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) June 9, 2025
“There is currently no need for the National Guard to be deployed in Los Angeles, and to do so in this unlawful manner and for such a lengthy period is a serious breach of state sovereignty that seems intentionally designed to inflame the situation,” a formal letter from the office of the Governor of California to the White House reads.
“Accordingly, we ask that you immediately rescind your order and return the National Guard to its rightful control by the State of California, to be deployed as appropriate when necessary.”
Trump, however, had doubled down on his decision.
“We made a great decision in sending the National Guard to deal with the violent, instigated riots in California. If we had not done so, Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Bannon, while no longer a Trump administration insider, insists there’s more to come.
“Trump ain’t going to get over it,” he states. “He’s President of the United States. He’s the commander in chief, and he’s stopping an invasion, and he’s going to repel the invaders. You’re going home.
“This is a war. This is why President Trump up-armoured by deputising, federalising the National Guard.”
State of the Union
“It is difficult not to see this as the latest move by the Trump administration to subjugate California,” argues Open University historian Sinead McEneaney.
The President threatened to withhold federal emergency aid after devastating wildfires swept the Democrat stronghold state.
He’s threatened to withdraw federal funding for universities after protests there were deemed legal expressions of First Amendment rights.
He’s warned of punitive action over allowing transgender athletes to participate in sports.
“Unlike his predecessors, Trump has not mobilised the national guard to protect civil rights against a hostile police force,” McEneaney argues. “Instead, he appears to be using this as leverage to undermine a political opponent he views as blocking his agenda.”
But California is itself sailing close to Constitution-breaching winds.
“You can’t prattle on about the “rule of law” while endorsing “sanctuary cities” — designed as sanctuaries from the rule of law. Pick a side,” argues McCarthy.
Let’s be clear: Los Angeles is burning, and local leaders are refusing to respond.
— DOD Rapid Response (@DODResponse) June 9, 2025
Don't worry, the National Guard is responding.
There is a ZERO tolerance for attacking federal agents who are doing their job. https://t.co/sRviKjUdNU
It’s a double standard Trump is himself guilty of, he adds: “Because, like Democrats, Trump officials have selective outrage when it comes to political violence, they are vulnerable to the criticism that they are politicising law enforcement — even when, as here, they are doing what must be done.”
But former federal prosecutor and former elected state attorney Michael McAuliffe says extreme actions should be reserved for extreme events.
“The mobilisation of troops for domestic crowd control should remain the rarest of events and only in the most utterly extreme circumstances,” McAuliffe argues.
“The current protest in California against the ICE/federal immigration arrest spree is not one of those instances. The President’s action likely will be counter-productive and actually raise tensions, instead of gaining better control of the situation.”
Trump has the legal power to forcibly oppose any action to “prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States.”
The partisan-political fight is over whether or not the circumstances demand it.
“It takes discipline—extreme discipline—among protesters to deny the president of the United States violence when he’s so clearly itching for it,” Wittes states.
“We should all hope the protesters show more discipline than the president has shown.”
Fanning the flames
“Think of the logic,” argues Stanford University Hoover Institution historian Victor Hanson. “I am waving the flag of the country under no circumstances I want to return, but I am attacking the officers and the infrastructure of the country that under every circumstance I want to stay in.”
Writing for the Heritage Foundation think-tank’s The Daily Signal publication, the classicist added:
“I’ll just give a word of advice. You’re going to lose the optics—Democrats, the Left, and immigration protesters—if you have a lot of people here illegally and they’re waving, not the American flag, but the Mexican flag, as they’re committing acts of violence.”
Bannon insists the violent protest was instigated by “the illegitimate Biden regime, who stole, with the deep state, stole the 2020 election and then put in an illegitimate regime in this country and immediately had a very organised invasion of the country”.
Now Bannon has added his voice to that of Trump’s border force tzar, Tom Homan, who at the weekend called for the arrest of Governor Newsom for impeding lawful ICE activities.
It’s time to ignore accusations of “authoritarianism”, Bannon insists: “We need to start arresting government officials, including the Mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, who’s stirring this pot up.”
He added that suspending habeas corpus (due legal process) was justifiable in these circumstances.
And those circumstances are World War III.
“The Third World War is not just in the drone attack in Kyiv over the weekend, is not just a situation in Israel and Gaza, it’s not the situation of a couple of carrier battle groups in the Red Sea, it’s not that you have a Chinese battle group for the first time in history that is now steaming past the second island chain...
“It’s a political, cyber, psychological, economic warfare that has now gotten into its kinetic phase. What’s happening in Los Angeles and San Francisco last night is the beginning of the kinetic phase here in the United States.”
Jamie Seidel is a freelance writer | @jamieseidel.bsky.social
Originally published as Why all signs are pointing to ‘World War III’ amid US riots
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