Irish Examiner view: Trump is escalating tensions in California for his own political ends 

Sending the US National Guard out with ICE in California is an unnecessary escalation and a signpost of further trouble to come

Against the advice of California Governor Gavin Newsom, Donald Trump's White House wielded the sledgehammer of sending National Guard troops onto the streets as protests against ICE raids in Los Angeles, Compton, and Paramount, erupted at the weekend. Picture: Ethan Swope/AP

A sledgehammer is rarely the correct tool to drive a nail, but what we witnessed in California over the weekend was an attempt by US president Donal Trump to do just that.

Demonstrating further cards from the authoritarian deck he has brandished on several previous occasions, particularly during his first term in office, Trump ordered the state’s National Guard to intervene to quell protests against federal immigration sweeps in a number of cities.