On Friday, Oct. 24, the Ninth Circuit ruled 2–1 that Trump’s federalization of the California National Guard for the June 2025 LA deployment was unconstitutional. The majority found no “rebellion or danger of rebellion” and said the protests were mostly peaceful and under local control. A federal judge had already ruled the deployment illegal in September 2025. The episode was recorded the week Sen. Alex Padilla was forced to the floor and handcuffed at Kristi Noem’s LA press conference, June 12, 2025.
June 2025. The National Guard and the Marines are deployed on the streets of Los Angeles. A United States senator is on the floor in handcuffs for asking a question. And three brothers sit down for only the third time on this mic to ask the question underneath all of it: when was America great — and for whom?
Sixteen months later, a federal appeals court has said what this city already knew. There was no rebellion. The protests were mostly peaceful. Local police had it handled. The deployment was unconstitutional.
But this episode was never really about the court case. It’s about what three men see when a red hat walks into the room. For one of us, it’s a white picket fence. For another, it’s a cross burning in West Virginia. For another, it’s a kid afraid to walk to graduation because ICE might be in the parking lot.
It’s about why white Americans claim the Founding Fathers but not the lynching tree. And it’s about the question every good white friend eventually asks: what am I supposed to do?
We didn’t have the answer then. We had a bridge. This is Episode 3. Los Angeles Under Fire. Let’s go.
Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube and let us know. Til the next time...left on Founders...we out!
