Ask A Genius 1421: Trump’s Militarized Response to LA Protests and the “Waymo Arson” Optics
Author(s): Rick Rosner and Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2025/06/09
Rick Rosner is an accomplished television writer with credits on shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Crank Yankers, and The Man Show. Over his career, he has earned multiple Writers Guild Award nominations—winning one—and an Emmy nomination. Rosner holds a broad academic background, graduating with the equivalent of eight majors. Based in Los Angeles, he continues to write and develop ideas while spending time with his wife, daughter, and two dogs.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen is the publisher of In-Sight Publishing (ISBN: 978-1-0692343) and Editor-in-Chief of In-Sight: Interviews (ISSN: 2369-6885). He writes for The Good Men Project, International Policy Digest (ISSN: 2332–9416), The Humanist (Print: ISSN 0018-7399; Online: ISSN 2163-3576), Basic Income Earth Network (UK Registered Charity 1177066), A Further Inquiry, and other media. He is a member in good standing of numerous media organizations.
Rick Rosner criticizes Trump’s deployment of the National Guard, Marines, and ICE to Los Angeles over largely peaceful protests, contrasting minor rioting—highlighted by two Waymo vehicles set ablaze—with genuine civil disorder. He warns of “pre-fascist” strongman tactics, manipulated optics, and extremist agitators on both ends of the political spectrum.
Rick Rosner: Trump just sent the National Guard and 700 Marines into Los Angeles, supposedly to deal with rioting. However, it was not rioting—it was days of protest. Peaceful protest. For instance, during the George Floyd/Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests in 2020, there was some property damage. A total of 156 police vehicles were damaged in L.A.—eight of them were totalled. And then they brought in the National Guard. But now? This time? It is way over the top. He is militarizing response to civilian demonstrations—again.
This time, Trump has sent in—well, he was not president in 2020—but he wants it to appear as if there is widespread disorder. He wants to declare martial law possibly and suspend Posse Comitatus, which is the rule that prevents the military from being used as local police. You are not supposed to deploy the army against American citizens. Trump wants to scrap all of that.
So he sends in ICE to provoke protests. Moreover, now he is doing all this classic pre-fascism, “strongman steps” type shit. Moreover, here is the thing: one big difference between now and 2020? You can now open your phone, go to the Waymo app, order a self-driving car—and when it shows up, set it on fire and vandalize it. That is literally what happened yesterday evening. At least two Waymo vehicles were burned to the ground, and another three were either torched or graffitied.
So now, even though Trump did not have absolute proof of rioting before, footage of flaming Waymos made for excellent optics. It looked chaotic on camera. Moreover, every MAGA idiot across the country suddenly had something to point to and yell, “See? Riots!”
Although there was some looting last night, for the two or three days prior, it had been peaceful protests. No rioting. Last night, yes—some actual rioting. Moreover, we do not even know who did it. There are idiots on both ends of the spectrum—the horseshoe of assholes. The extreme far-left lunatics and the extreme far-right lunatics—they are not that far apart. The ends of the spectrum curve around and meet at the top of the horseshoe—in what I call Total Asshole Land™.
So yeah, it could have been far-left anarchists burning Waymos. However, it also could have been far-right agitators trying to make liberal protesters look bad by creating chaos. We do not know yet. We might never know. However, what we do know is that Trump’s response is wildly disproportionate to the incident.
I live in L.A., And we have at least seven local English-language news stations and another four in Spanish. They are always looking for action, always eager to show us what is happening. If L.A. were truly on fire, they would be jizzing their pants to broadcast it.
Moreover, what are they showing? Mostly standoffs—tense but nonviolent—between protesters and the National Guard. That is it. Not widespread violence. Moreover, the real violence we have seen? It has been from the authorities. It is like when an Australian reporter got hit with a rubber bullet—fired from maybe 20 feet away. Not a stray shot, either. It looked deliberate. Some asshole with a launcher decided to peg him.
So, if there were massive unrest, we would know. We have been driving around L.A. like normal. Last night, we went out to dinner. Then we went to a Daily Show presentation across town. The streets are fine. Not chaos. People are not afraid to go places. The police are out there doing their regular duties—I even saw someone getting pulled over, which is quite rare in L.A. since there are not enough cops as it is.
The point is that L.A. is not a hellscape. Not even close. However, the MAGA world is acting like we are living in The Purge.
All right, you want to call it a night? You call it a night; I will call it a day.
Jacobsen: That is right. That is right.
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