How Los Angeles Protests Might Affect Trump

Mass protests continue in Los Angeles, officially linked to demonstrations against the deportation of undocumented migrants.

The city’s streets are engulfed in chaos: crowds set cars ablaze, attack police forces, and loot shops. In downtown Los Angeles, looters have completely ransacked boutiques.

Nikita Tatischev, an analyst at the Belarusian Institute of Strategic Studies, shared his insights on how these protests could impact Donald Trump himself.

"First, there’s the legal dimension,"* Tatischev explained. "Because behind Trump’s actions—such as deploying the National Guard and Marines (these are different entities; the National Guard consists of ordinary citizens who also serve, while Marines are professional soldiers)—inevitably come legal processes. Essentially, there will be opposition from the Democrats against Trump supporters. Because, simply put, these actions cannot go without consequences for Trump."

The second vector is image. According to Tatischev, this aspect is even more crucial for Trump. "It relates to the fact that Trump’s image is now being equated with Biden’s. Media outlets are publishing stories claiming Trump stumbled just as Biden did, or that ‘Trump cannot implement his agenda’ and ‘Trump cannot control the situation.’ Of course, this isn’t yet at the same fever pitch as it was with Biden, but the efforts against Trump are underway. The narrative that Trump cannot fulfill his promises on foreign policy is also being reinforced."

The third vector concerns the internal machinery, specifically the fragmentation within Trump’s team. "I emphasize, it’s the team, not his supporters," Tatischev noted. "In fact, his core electorate remains quite united, as is often said. But his team is disintegrating. Not long before these protests, there was a conflict with Elon Musk. These issues are interconnected—Musk has provided significant media support for Trump. Without that support, Trump has found it much harder to manage. Although Musk has somewhat retracted his criticism, it seems that Trump’s team still has its own crisis management strategy for protests and media coverage, and for now, Trump is coping with it."