Whoopi Goldberg: Trump Using L.A. Protests to Escalate U.S. Toward ‘Civil War’

Whoopi Goldberg told her co-hosts Monday on ABC’s “The View” that President Donald Trump’s decision to send the National Guard into Los Angeles was an attempt to escalate hostilities into a “civil war.”

Goldberg said. “The Defense Department has the U.S. Marines on high alert right now. Now, you know, is it warranted, or does this sort of escalate the situation? I mean, whatever happened to states’ rights? I thought that was what you do, because you tell the state, this is what we’re thinking of doing. You know, you don’t just send people in. You don’t send troops in. But what do I know? I’ve never run a state. But I don’t really you know, when you come in and everyone is when you go into the donut shop to look for people and you’re dressed in tactical gear, you’re creating an issue, you’re creating a problem. You want people to come, you’ve scared them. You’ve even when people are supposed to be there, when they come to the to talk to the judge, you’re arresting them right after what is going on here?”

Co-host Sunny Hostin said, “I think what really matters from a long view here is he is militarizing and deploying the Guard for the purpose of policing Americans’ protest activity, our freedom of speech, our freedom of assembly. There’s a very big, stark demarcation between military troops and law enforcement, public law enforcement, civilian law enforcement. And you are an army turned inside to police its citizens can cause chaos and fascism.”

Goldberg interjected, “Civil war.”

Hostin agreed, “And Civil war. I think that’s the way we need to look at it because deploying the National Guard is supposed to be a last resort. But what this president is doing is that he is, he’s saying he’s going to deploy them anywhere in this country where there is a protest. So that is certainly not a last-resort use of military troops.”