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ALPERN AT LARGE - Like it or not, federal law and federal funding trump (pun intended, maybe?) all local and state efforts to carry out policies that oppose those ordered from the White House, Homeland Secuirity, and ICE…and right now we need federal funding aplenty for the upcoming 2028 Olympics.
No one should be made to like President Donald J. Trump, who can clearly talk trash and act non-presidential as much as anyone in the White House, but he DOES have fiscal carrot-and-stick options for a fiscally-strapped L.A. and California we can’t ignore:
1) Trump and his Cabinet will be steering transportation, water, and other infrastructure funds away from those states who do not adhere to his version of federal immigration policies.
2) Trump will order the Army Corp of Engineers to help or not help states who cooperate or fight him on immigration policies.
3) Trump will politically attack or support those who work with him on immigration policies (one need only to see where New York City’s Mayor Adams versus Chicago’s Mayor Brandon Johnson will end up to figure out how our own Mayor Karen Bass will fare).
4) Trump has nothing to gain from California Governor Gavin Newsom gaining political ground, and everything to gain from Newsom (and, by extension, the state who voted him in twice) going down in flames unless they adhere to Trump’s own version of immigration law.
5) Trump will ally himself with any Orange County or other red/conservative portions of California who want closer political and economic ties with the White House…and at this time, the Democratic Party has no single political leader to oppose Trump.
6) Trump will vigorously oppose the Education, Economic, and Environmental policies of California, and will have no shortage of other states who agree with him in his opposition.
7) Trump will exploit any “protests”, illegal blocking of ICE and other federal jurisdictions their ability to do their job...and will especially use “freeway shutdowns” to curry support among not only Red State Americans but a whole lotta California Democratic voters who detest those shutdowns.
8) Trump knows that Texas and Florida have turned Red NOT because of white voters, but because of Latino voters who increasingly are lurching to the right…and that includes Californian Latinos who are moving in directions Democratic leaders may not be aware of.
9) Trump will be all-too-happy to throw a REAL form of Marshall Plan to rebuild L.A. and California (Newsom’s $2.5 Billion is a pathetic joke of a number)…or to dangle and then pull it away, blaming it on Mayor Karen Bass, Governor Newsom, and other Democratic leaders to help the House turn more Red in 2026.
10) Trump knows what we ALL know, or at least SHOULD know: we need federal dollars more than ever after our fires, and with the Olympics looming dead ahead of us.
L.A. and California can do whatever it wishes…but if we want to play “tough guys” with President Donald J. Trump at a time when we need his fiscal powers to throw $100 billion at our state to prepare for the 2028 Olympics, it will truly be a ghastly mistake of Olympic proportions. .
(Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D, is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband and father. He was active for 20 years on the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) as an At-Large and Westside Village Zone Board Member focused on Planning and Transportation, and helped lead the grassroots efforts of the Expo Line as well as connecting LAX to MetroRail. His latest project is his fictional online book entitled The Unforgotten Tales of Middle-Earth, and can be reached at [email protected]. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)
