June 12, 2025: The day a U.S. senator was pinned to the ground for asking a question

Meanwhile, Donald Trump has troops deployed on U.S. soil to quash dissent.

For interrupting a Kristi Noem press conference to ask a question, Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) was shockingly forced out by plain-clothes officers and handcuffed on the floor of a federal building in which he has an office.

NBC News reported: “The incident follows a string of arrests of Democratic elected officials related to immigration. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested last month and accused of trespassing at an ICE facility in New Jersey. The charges were ultimately dropped; Baraka he has sued interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba and Ricky J. Patel, a special agent in charge of the Newark division of Homeland Security Investigations, over the incident.”

Historian Heather Cox Richardson observed that the president’s encroachments, including the threat to arrest the Los Angeles mayor and the California governor, could mean Trump is preparing to stage a coup.

Padilla’s attempt to question Noem occurred in Los Angeles, where the National Guard has been deployed by President Trump to quash dissent over his strong-arm ICE tactics.

Hours after the Padilla incident, a federal judge ordered Trump to return California national guard troops to the governor’s command. California Gov. Gavin Newsom responded: “I hope it’s the beginning of a new day in this country, where we push back against overreach, we push back against these authoritarian tendencies of a president that has pushed the boundaries, pushed the limits, but can no longer push this state around.”

Of the handcuffing of Sen. Padilla for asking a question, the governor said, “Just tell me that that’s right.”

Christian podcaster Pat Kanke said he was “furious” at the manhandling of Sen. Padilla, but he reminded that ultimately, “Truth is winning.”