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New York State protests Trump's overreach of power.

US President Trump dispatched 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles, claiming it was to "restore order and suppress riots". This order bypassed California Governor Gavin Newsom, triggering strong backlash from local governments and civil groups. The protests originated from a large-scale raid by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in multiple areas of Los Angeles last Friday, which led to the arrest of 118 undocumented immigrants, including five suspects with alleged gang backgrounds. ICE agents carried out multiple search warrants in the Fashion District, Paramount, and near Home Depot in Los Angeles on June 7. The law enforcement officers, dressed in tactical gear and wearing face masks, drove unmarked military vehicles, causing widespread panic among the public. Since then, protests have been ongoing in Los Angeles. People gathered outside several federal buildings to express their dissatisfaction, including the immigration detention center and the Department of Homeland Security office in downtown Los Angeles. Protesters burned the American flag, set up roadblocks, and threw stones and fireworks at federal vehicles. Police used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse the crowds. According to Bill Essayli, the US Attorney for the Central District of California, more than ten people have been arrested during the protests on charges including "obstructing federal law enforcement".

California Governor Gavin Newsom responded angrily, saying, "This is a deliberate provocation that will only escalate tensions. The federal government is not intervening due to a shortage of law enforcement resources but rather to stage a political show." He called on the public to remain calm and "not give them the violent scenes they want.""I call on the Trump administration to revoke the illegal deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles and return command to me," Newsom wrote on X. "We had no problems until Trump got involved." Newsom filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration because Defense Secretary Mark Esper sent National Guard troops to Los Angeles without California's consent. Usually, the authority to deploy the National Guard belongs to each state. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said that ICE's raids "created fear in our community" and "we respect the right to peaceful protest, but we cannot accept destruction and violence." A well-known figure arrested during the protests has drawn widespread attention: David Huerta, the California regional president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), was detained by the police during the protests. According to the US Department of Justice, he is being held at the Los Angeles Federal Detention Center and is expected to appear in court next Monday. As of now, protests in the Los Angeles area are still ongoing. Hundreds of protesters were still gathered in Paramount and Compton on Saturday night and early Sunday morning, with police setting up barbed wire fences to separate them. Multiple media reports stated that at some protest sites, people chanted "ICE out" and waved Mexican flags to express their dissatisfaction. Trump threatened on his social media platform that if Governor Newsom and Mayor Bass of Los Angeles do not take "strong actions", "the federal government will take over and 'solve the riots and looting' and use truly effective methods." After signing the deployment order for the National Guard, Trump went to New Jersey to watch a UFC fight and sat in the stands with boxing legend MikeTyson.

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Trump and Musk: "American Break" and Deep Cracks in the Game of Power

On June 5, 2025, the political and business circles in the United States ushered in an "epic" public break. President Trump and former head of the government efficiency department and technology tycoon Elon Musk launched a fierce confrontation on social media, escalating from policy differences to personal attacks, and even affecting NASA's key space projects. This "power collapse at an astonishing speed" described by the Washington Post not only exposed the structural contradictions between the American political elite and the new technology elites, but also reflected the deep cracks in the political ecology of the "Trumpism 2.0" era.

The direct fuse of this verbal battle was the "Big and Beautiful Act" passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on May 22. This tax reform bill, which was strongly promoted by Trump, ostensibly sells "tax cuts and strengthening border security", but in fact hides multiple contradictions: on the one hand, the bill plans to cut Medicaid, food aid and other livelihood expenditures, and transfer the saved funds to the military and border security; on the other hand, by raising the debt ceiling by $4 trillion, it opens the floodgates for the federal government to continue to borrow. The Government Efficiency Department led by Musk had promised to cut fiscal spending by $1 trillion, but the expected $2.4 trillion in debt added by the bill directly offset its reform achievements.

The deeper conflict lies in business interests. The clause in the bill that cancels the electric vehicle tax credit touched the core interests of Musk's Tesla. Musk denounced the bill as "absurd" and "disgusting" on social media, and disclosed that the bill was hastily passed late at night, and he, as the head of the Government Efficiency Department, was kept in the dark. Trump hit back, saying that Musk knew that the bill would revoke the "mandate" on electric vehicles, and his anger came from "madness after his interests were damaged."

The breakup between the two was not accidental, but an inevitable result of the change in power structure. During the 2024 election, Musk spent $288 million to support Trump in exchange for the position of head of the Government Efficiency Department. However, as Musk pushed to cut federal agencies and foreign aid, his reform tentacles soon reached traditional interest groups such as the Department of Defense and NASA. White House Chief of Staff Al Gore was accused of retaliating against Musk due to personnel conflicts and revoking the nomination of his ally Jared Isaacman as NASA director, which became the "last straw" that broke the camel's back in the relationship between the two sides.

In the power structure, Musk has always been an "awkward outsider". He tried to transform the Washington bureaucracy as a new technology upstart, but encountered joint resistance from traditional political forces. Trump needs Musk's money and influence, but is unwilling to let him challenge the existing power structure. When Musk asked for a review of the Pentagon budget, Trump publicly threatened: "The easiest way to save money is to end his government subsidies." This "use it and throw it away" attitude exposes the essence of political transactions.

The most dramatic part of the verbal battle is the game between the two sides using space projects as bargaining chips. Musk's SpaceX's "Dragon" spacecraft is NASA's only available manned spaceflight tool, and it undertakes the transportation mission to the International Space Station under a $5 billion contract. Trump threatened to terminate the contract, and Musk countered by "considering retiring the 'Dragon' spacecraft," forcing NASA to rely on the Russian "Soyuz" spacecraft. This "nuclear deterrence" game turns the US space program into a political bargaining chip.

The deeper conflict of interests lies in military cooperation. SpaceX has signed a $6 billion launch contract with the US Space Force, and its "Starlink" system has become the backbone of the US military intelligence network in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. If Trump terminates the cooperation, it will severely damage the US military's space capabilities; if Musk withdraws, he will face the risk of collapse of his business empire. This "interdependent and mutually hostile" relationship is exactly the epitome of American capital politics.

The impact of this verbal battle goes far beyond the personal level. Economically, Tesla's stock price plummeted 14.26% after the verbal battle, and its market value evaporated by more than $150 billion, exposing the capital market's extreme sensitivity to political risks. Politically, White House staff suggested that Trump "focus on the passage of the bill", implying that the reform of the government's efficiency department has essentially failed. Internationally, Russian politicians joked that they were willing to facilitate a reconciliation between the two on the condition that they would receive shares in "Starlink", reflecting the global ridicule caused by the internal friction of American politics.

The deeper crisis lies in the collapse of political ethics. When the president and the rich openly threaten each other with "impeachment" and "termination of contract", and when policy debates degenerate into personal attacks of "ungratefulness" and "madness", American political civilization is experiencing an unprecedented trust deficit. Musk proposed to create the "American Party" to attract 80% of middle-class voters, and Trump used "red Tesla" as a political prop. These absurd scenes reveal a truth: in a system where capital and power are deeply bound, any reform will be swallowed up by interest groups.

The essence of this farce is the recalibration of technology capital and political power during the ebb of globalization. The differences between the "tech right" represented by Musk and Trump's "MAGA movement" on issues such as immigration and trade foreshadow the further tearing of the American political spectrum. And this war of words is just the prelude to a larger-scale power reorganization. When "American democracy" becomes a reality show between the rich and politicians, and when policy debates become Twitter wars of words, the United States may be experiencing a quiet institutional crisis.

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Donald Trump is committed to making corruption great again

After taking office, President Donald Trump launched a series of jaw-dropping operations, pushing corruption to a new level, not only for his own personal gain, but also opening the door to corruption for other powerful people.

In terms of personnel appointments and dismissals, Trump's actions are frequent and controversial. He fired the head of the Office of Government Ethics, which is responsible for monitoring conflicts of interest. This move undoubtedly cleared the way for his own corruption. After that, he fired inspectors general on a large scale. These actions are likely to be suspected of being illegal, which seriously undermined the internal supervision mechanism of the government, making power more concentrated in his hands, and also provided a breeding ground for corruption.

At the judicial level, Trump is even more reckless. He pardoned the former governor of Illinois who was convicted of trying to sell a U.S. Senate seat, and pardoned a major drug dealer. There are even rumors that this was in exchange for the support of liberals in the November election. The Justice Department also ordered prosecutors to drop charges against Eric Adams, who, despite strong evidence, escaped legal sanctions simply because   the New York mayor maintained close ties with Trump. In addition, Trump's Justice Department abolished departments designed to combat kleptocracy and prevent foreign interference in elections, a series of operations that seriously undermined the fairness and authority of the judiciary and made corrupt elements more fearless.

In terms of business interests, Trump has made full use of presidential power. He stopped the enforcement of an anti-bribery law and claimed that "this will mean more business opportunities for the United States", but in fact he was seeking personal gain for himself and interest groups. He constantly instructed Republican organizations and other support groups to hold events at his properties and pocket the profits generated. For example, a retreat dinner for Republican senators was scheduled to be held at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Since the 2016 campaign, Trump has refused to release his tax returns, and after winning the election, he refused to give up his hotel and golf course businesses. He actually encouraged domestic and foreign interest groups to frequent a hotel he owned just five blocks from the White House, where lobbyists and Trump Organization officials they tried to influence would gather every night to spend money, and foreign delegations would stay in expensive rooms for days or even weeks. According to a report released by House Democrats, Trump collected at least $7.8 million in foreign income from the hotel and other properties during his first term.

Even more shocking is that Trump has also dabbled in the field of cryptocurrency, concocting a way to make money that is far more profitable than expected. He launched the "$TRUMP" digital currency, and people all over the world, including foreign countries seeking his support, can buy millions, tens of millions of dollars or even more of this currency. Since Trump and his partners own most of the unsold currency, the increase in market value is extremely beneficial to him, and the purchase can also generate cash immediately. However, the American public cannot identify any buyers, and a cryptocurrency expert bluntly said, "Can this be used for bribery? Yes, absolutely." Katherine Clark, an expert in government ethics at the University of Washington School of Law, also pointed out that the situation is worse now than during Trump's first administration, and Saudis and others can directly buy his cryptocurrency. Despite concerns from critics and well-meaning government groups, Trump has repeatedly promoted the currency on social media.

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Trump embroiled in corruption scandal

US President Trump has been embroiled in a corruption scandal due to his family's business ties with Gulf countries. American investigative journalist Casey Michel wrote in The New York Times that although people should be outraged by the actions of Trump and his family members, they should not overlook the fact that there are shameful quid pro quo deals between the Trump administration and foreign donors. Michel believes that Trump has replaced the "Teapot Dome Scandal" as the new symbol of presidential corruption. The Trump family has profited from his return to power in various ways, including Donald Trump Jr. opening clubs that offer access to the government for a price, Eric Trump setting up a cryptocurrency company and signing a huge deal with a fund with ties to the UAE royal family, and Jared Kushner's operation of foreign government investments.

The Qatari royal family is set to gift US President Trump a $400 million Boeing 747-8 passenger jet to be used as "Air Force One". Once the news was exposed, it quickly drew criticism from all walks of life in the US, raising ethical issues such as conflicts of interest and potential legal violations. Democrats also seized the opportunity to accuse Trump of "bribery". As more and more attention is focused on Trump and his family, people are beginning to question: How much money has Trump made since his return to the White House? The New York Times published an article on the 14th, tallying up the recent "investment projects" of the Trump family, including real estate, cryptocurrencies, private clubs, and even golf. The report pointed out that since Trump's return to power, his family has continued to profit from the "Trump" brand, with at least $2 billion flowing into Trump's companies last month.

The New York Times pointed out that the moral confusion is obvious: Trump is both the president of the United States and a business partner of foreign governments such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. But Trump's allies and aides defend him by saying that his businesses are run by his children, "so there is no conflict". Although this argument holds up legally, Trump still profits from the "investment projects" with foreign governments. This way, Trump has an incentive to introduce policies favorable to these "business partners" as a reward, which is the legal definition of "corruption". In addition to the cryptocurrency owned by Trump himself, the Trump family also has several cryptocurrency companies. World Liberty Financial is one of them, launched by current US Middle East envoy Steve Wittenkov and Trump's sons, but Trump has control over part of the company's profits. Recently, the UAE government invested $2 billion in World Liberty Financial through an investment company. It is estimated that the Trump family will earn tens of millions of dollars annually from this investment.