Vance demonstrates Marine might as thousands protest Trump agenda

Vice President JD Vance watched with pride as the Marines fired 155-millimeter artillery shells on a major highway in Southern California on Saturday, calling the display “a testament to the Corps’ unbeatable strength and power.”

Gavin Newsom, the state’s Democratic governor, called it an “absurd show of force” and “dangerous.”

Mr. Vance used a speech to hundreds of Marines to attack Democrats over the government shutdown, calling the standoff the “Schumer shutdown,” an attack on Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and minority leader. Throughout the day, protesters filled the streets of American cities, including near Los Angeles and San Diego, lambasting the Trump administration’s domestic agenda and consolidation of power.

What the White House had initially planned as a celebration of the country’s 250th anniversary and the power of the Marine Corps became half of a telling split-screen: As the likely heir to Mr. Trump’s political movement showed off the power of the military over the objections of a state governor, thousands across the country protested a president they accused of wielding his power like a king.

The overlapping events provide a snapshot of the fractured state of American society and the growing tensions between the federal government and Democratic leaders, who have repeatedly clashed with Mr. Trump in recent months over his use of the military in domestic affairs.

“The values ​​Americans hold dear are under attack by” Mr. Trump, Mr. Newsom said in a social media post on Saturday. He said California would continue to “peacefully oppose the Trump administration’s authoritarian takeover.”

Mr. Vance’s aides accused Mr. Newsom of stoking fear, saying the Marine Corps had determined that the exercise at Camp Pendleton did not pose a threat. “It is quite shocking that Gavin Newsom knows so little about what is happening at one of his state’s most important military installations,” said William Martin, Mr. Vance’s communications director.

Mr. Newsom said he just wanted more communication about the plans. State officials said they had received virtually no information about the protest from federal officials, and were informed earlier in the week that the protest would not involve ordnance shooting on the highway.

While the Trump administration maintained the exercise was routine, Marine Corps officials did not respond to questions about how many times they had previously fired live ammunition on the California highway.

Before M777 howitzers fired from Red Beach to Camp Pendleton, California authorities closed Interstate 5, the busy corridor between Los Angeles and San Diego, for hours. The state said it made the decision because of the potential dangers of protesting.

The Marines initially planned to fire several rounds from Red Beach eastward, over the highway. But the exercise was ultimately scaled back, effectively constituting a compromise amid the dispute between federal and state officials.

During his speech, Mr. Vance, who toured Iraq and worked as a media relations officer in the Marine Corps, said the entirety of the demonstration — the live ammunition, the paratroopers descending from the sky, the Marine seals swimming ashore, the F35 jets flying overhead — made his “vice president’s heart sing.”

He praised the rich history of the Marines. But as Mr. Trump has done in his military speeches in recent months, he has turned enthusiastically to politics, casting the troops as victims of a progressive cultural agenda.

He questioned military diversity programs that the Trump administration had eliminated. “It’s not our diversity that makes us stronger. It’s our common goal,” Mr. Vance said.

Criticizing Democrats, Mr. Vance pledged that the administration would ensure troops were paid during the government shutdown, after Mr. Trump ordered the Defense Department to use “all available funds” to do so, a short-term solution that does not apply to hundreds of thousands of other federal employees.

“He wanted me to tell each and every one of you that he is proud of you, that he loves you and that despite Schumer being shut down, he will do everything he can to make sure you get paid exactly what you deserve,” Mr. Vance said, referring to Mr. Trump.

Mr. Vance, seeming to recognize the limits he was testing, added: “I know we’re here to talk about the Marine Corps. But I have to get just a little political. Because the Democrats in Congress seem to want to keep the government closed even though it would mean a lot of you wouldn’t get your paychecks.”

David Nelson, a former Marine captain and lawyer, called Mr. Vance’s speech detailing the corps’ history “moving,” saying it made him proud to have joined the Marines in 1965. But he noted that the speech was delivered near Los Angeles, where Mr. Trump had deployed hundreds of Marines earlier this year following protests against immigration raids.

“Given that the primary purpose of the Marine Corps is to protect our country from foreign enemies, I hope that Marines will not be relegated to participating in local law enforcement activities, potentially pitting U.S. Marines against Americans,” said Mr. Nelson, who watched the speech on television.

North of the Red Beach demonstration area at Camp Pendleton, where the sound of military helicopters drowned out the sound of rolling hammers, Sara Kennedy, a longtime San Clemente resident, wondered why Mr. Vance was overseeing the military exercise when the long-term wages of federal workers remained at risk.

“It’s frustrating to have to live in these kinds of times where it seems like people’s lives don’t matter, for a show,” Ms. Kennedy, 41, said.

Larry St Marie, 77, a retired longshoreman and Vietnam War veteran who lives in San Clemente, came to see the military show Saturday. He said he had noticed a decrease in “flag waving” as the country had become more polarized.

He wondered how the country – and the government – ​​had arrived at such a divided state, he added.

“It’s crazy why we’re in this position,” Mr. St Marie said. “It doesn’t make any sense to me. It should never have gotten to this point.”

John Ismay reports contributed.