I doubt this was the plan, but it’s working. They sent a bunch of armed thugs out onto the streets of LA to bully and harass the population, provoking a riot (or something similar). In addition to the excitement of riot police, this gives them the pretext to activate the army, however illegal this might be.
They are planning similar ICE operations in several other cities, all of them coincidentally controlled by the Democrats. This should cause mass civil unrest all over the place, all under the pretext of enforcing law and order. At the very least, it will feed the lust for violence that the far right crave. Best case would be some sort of martial law, where they can gain complete control over “enemy” areas. Helpful for the elections next year.
There’s not much going on. The mayor of LA has ordered a partial curfew, which is being observed. So much for lawless chaos and disorder. The National Guard are out in force, surrounding federal buildings to protect them from… nobody.
All those soldiers are there voluntarily. Commanding officers allow individuals to opt out of such duties. This is good. On the other hand, it means the army now has lists of soldiers who have no problems in going out and performing “police actions” among the general population. This could come in handy in the future.
Meanwhile, the Commander-in-Chief is touring military bases, doing his campaign speeches, the usual. It’s going well.