Picture it: U.S. warships firing live ammunition over a busy California freeway.
That’s the latest eye-popping proposal that has Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Donald Trump locked in a pitched fight as tensions continue to flare between the federal government and California.
Newsom’s office told the Los Angeles Times that it has received, but not yet confirmed, reports that the White House is directing a plan to use Navy ships off the California coast to pummel a piece of Camp Pendleton as part of a planned military anniversary celebration scheduled for Friday.
The event is called “Sea to Shore — A Review of Amphibious Strength” and will feature Vice President JD Vance, and is set to coincide with planned No Kings rallies and marches across the state on Saturday.
Of course, the sight of military exercises is not uncommon at Camp Pendleton — but the show has taken on new meaning as the White House-directed event has raised alarms among state officials over a lack of coordination around event safety and planning.
“Donald Trump and JD Vance think that shutting down the I-5 to shoot out missiles from ships is how you respect the military,” Newsom posted on the social media site X on Wednesday evening. His press office also added that “this would be an absurd show of force, and totally uncalled for during a government shutdown when members of the military cannot even get a paycheck,” in another post on X.
Since retaking the presidency, Trump has promised to “clean up” what he says are crime-ridden cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles, and he has long had an adversarial relationship with California and its Democratic leadership.
But tensions have risen in recent months as Trump has threatened to withhold funding from the state and ordered the Department of Homeland Security to conduct immigration enforcement raids on unsuspecting Latinos in California. Newsom has ratcheted up his criticism of the president, sometimes in curious ways, and the president in turn has targeted California.
Trump on Wednesday indicated that he wanted to send federal troops into San Francisco, prompting Mayor Daniel Lurie and law enforcement officials to call it out as unnecessary.
