\n But the desire of a president in a hurry to wield personal authority also lies behind almost every other aspect of a new term that has provoked fears of creeping authoritarianism. It applied to foreign policy as Trump worked at the weekend to impose his Gaza peace plan<\/a> and preview an escalation of legally questionable strikes against alleged cartel boats off Venezuela<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n And the Supreme Court\u2019s new term<\/a> that begins Monday will wrestle with critical questions of presidential power, including Trump\u2019s authority to wage his trade wars with tariffs and his attempts to undermine the independence of government agencies like the Federal Reserve.\n <\/p>\n \n While Americans rested, watched college football or enjoyed early fall weather over the weekend, Trump\u2019s power games intensified by the hour.\n <\/p>\n \n In a major new confrontation over the constitutional authority of the presidency, Trump on Sunday ordered 200 California National Guard members to Oregon after a federal judge blocked his deployment of the Northwestern state\u2019s own reservists, rejecting his claim that it\u2019s a \u201cwar zone.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who dueled Trump over National Guard deployments to Los Angeles earlier this year, vowed to resist. \u201cThis isn\u2019t about public safety, it\u2019s about power,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cThe commander-in-chief is using the US military as a political weapon against American citizens.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The same judge who blocked Trump\u2019s initial attempt to federalize Oregon\u2019s National Guard issued another order late Sunday night<\/a>, temporarily halting his attempt to use reserve troops from California, or from any other state.\n <\/p>\n \n Trump\u2019s moves come days after he told US generals and admirals summoned to a meeting in Virginia<\/a> that the military should use American cities as training grounds and suggested he\u2019d need the armed forces against invaders \u201cfrom within.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n He provoked new disquiet about the politicization of the military, which is prohibited by law from most operations on US soil, during a speech<\/a>. in Virginia celebrating the 250th anniversary of the US Navy on Sunday.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe send in the National Guard,\u201d Trump said in his rally-like speech. \u201cYou know what? We send in whatever is necessary. People don\u2019t care. They don\u2019t want crime in their cities.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Trump\u2019s switch from trying to deploy the Oregon National Guard in Portland to mobilizing reservists in California after an adverse court ruling was the latest sign that when his attempts to wield unchecked executive might are thwarted, he will seek new pathways.\n <\/p>\n \n So far, however, Trump hasn\u2019t directly defied orders by judges over the latest deployments he claims are needed to fight \u201cdomestic terrorists.\u201d If he did, legal experts warn the country would face a genuine constitutional crisis.\n <\/p>\n \n The Trump-appointed judge who temporarily blocked the Oregon move<\/a> argued in a striking ruling that the administration had misrepresented the public order situation in Portland. She found no \u201cdanger of a rebellion\u201d and that state and city officials were likely to succeed in proving Trump \u201cexceeded his constitutional authority and violated the Tenth Amendment\u201d in ordering the deployment.\n <\/p>\n \n Trump\u2019s move on the West Coast followed his authorization of the Illinois National Guard to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement assets in Chicago over the objection of the state\u2019s Democratic governor, amid an immigration crackdown that is sending tensions soaring.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThey want mayhem on the ground. They want to create the war zone, so that they can send in even more troops,\u201d Gov. JB Pritzker told CNN\u2019s Jake Tapper on \u201cState of the Union\u201d on Sunday.\n <\/p>\n \n Trump also went on the offensive Sunday over the shutdown, warning Democrats he\u2019d fire more federal workers if party lawmakers don\u2019t drop their refusal to vote for short-term funding of federal operations through late November.\n <\/p>\n \n Democrats are trying to jam Republicans into extending Affordable Care Act subsidies due to expire at the end of the year. Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, told Tapper that \u201cif the president decides that the negotiations are absolutely going nowhere, then there will start to be layoffs.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Still, the delicate politics of the shutdown may be reflected in the absence so far of federal worker layoffs that the White House previously said were imminent<\/a>. Republicans, in a nod to public opinion, are open to discussions about extending Obamacare subsidies <\/a>despite their historic antipathy to the law. They refuse to do so, however, while the government remains closed.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe need them to turn the lights back on so that everyone can do their work,\u201d Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday on NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned that a prolonged impasse that halted troop pay and funding for operations could harm military readiness. \u201cWe\u2019re going to do the job no matter what,\u201d Hegseth said in an interview broadcast Sunday on Fox News. \u201cBut eventually, you stop paying people. You stop doing things. You stop training. \u2026 You\u2019re less capable of being mission ready.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n It\u2019s ironic to hear Republicans warning that the government can\u2019t do its work, since shuttering vast swaths of the federal machine has been a top priority of the second Trump administration.\n <\/p>\n \n But the president expressed optimism for victory in the standoff in an exclusive text exchange with CNN\u2019s Tapper<\/a>. \u201cWe are winning, and cutting costs, big time!\u201d he wrote. Still, some recent polls have shown that voters blame the president and Republicans more for the shutdown than Democrats. And CNN\u2019s Adam Cancryn and Sarah Ferris reported Friday on some quiet concerns in the president\u2019s orbit<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m supposed to say this is killing the Democrats,\u201d one Trump adviser said. \u201cBut I don\u2019t think it helps either side, to be honest with you.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Still, the pain and pressure that typically contribute to shutdowns ending, as federal employees in essential positions like air traffic control work without pay, has yet to mount sufficiently to change calculations of both parties that let funding lapse.\n <\/p>\n \n Democrats, who\u2019ve spent months being hammered by Trump, seem emboldened by their use of the only leverage they have in Washington \u2014 the 60-vote filibuster threshold for most legislation to make it through the Senate.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe\u2019re at a stalemate,\u201d Senate Republican Majority Leader John Thune said on Fox News\u2019 \u201cSunday Morning Futures,\u201d faulting Democrats for an attempt to use the shutdown to reverse Medicaid cuts in Trump\u2019s massive domestic policy bill.\n <\/p>\n \n Still, the contours of an eventual deal to reopen \u2014 over Obamacare subsidies \u2014 seem clear. Senators to watch ahead of any shift in the dynamics of shutdown politics include Democratic moderates and members not seeking reelection who may be less exposed to pressure to fight Trump from the party\u2019s progressive wing.\n <\/p>\n \n Trump\u2019s power plays are not confined to the United States.\n <\/p>\n \n The president spent the weekend maintaining heat on Israel and Hamas as he seeks to finally end the war in Gaza<\/a> under his new 20-point ceasefire plan. The proposal, backed in part by key Arab states, is the administration\u2019s most realistic effort so far to release the remaining Israeli hostages, living and dead, and to address a future for Palestinians in Gaza after the war, even if many of its proposals seem unworkable.\n <\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1759776128_183_2025-10-04t042523z-2010436192-rc2s4hagxv04-rtrmadp-3-usa-trump-portland.jpg\")
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