photo by: Creators Syndicate

Keith Raffel

In the spring of 1775, the royal governor of Massachusetts, appointed by King George III, commanded 700 Redcoats to march to Lexington to suppress the colony’s Patriots. Almost exactly 250 years later, the American president ordered 700 Marines to Los Angeles to suppress California demonstrators.

The royal governor’s action set off a chain reaction that led to American independence. It’s certainly a long shot, but I wonder if Donald Trump’s action will lead to California’s.

The British troops came to Lexington seeking to arrest Patriot leaders John Hancock and Sam Adams, both future governors of Massachusetts. Trump recently said, “I think it would be a great thing” if current California Gov. Gavin Newsom were arrested.

The year after the British march on Lexington, the Declaration of Independence accused George III of being “a Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant.” Referring to himself, Trump has posted, “LONG LIVE THE KING!” He has declared, “I have the right to do whatever I want as president.” Trump acts accordingly even as the courts play Whac-A-Mole in attempting to block his executive orders.

The Declaration of Independence also accused George III of obstructing “the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to … encourage their migrations hither.” California has the largest number of immigrants of any state, and 57% of its voters believe they are a net positive for California. Roughly the same percentage support providing state health care to eligible low-income Californians, no matter their immigration status, “even if the Trump administration threatens to withhold significant federal funding.” Clearly Trump’s roundups and troop dispatches are not intended to win over a majority of the California electorate.

The Declaration of Independence goes on to cite King George’s “cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world.” Los Angeles’ port is the largest in the United States. The director of the port expects volume to plummet in the wake of Trump’s tariffs.

California represents a future that Trump disdains, even as 1 in 8 Americans call the state their home. Its Silicon Valley is ground zero for technology. Hollywood is the capital of world culture. Residents of Latino heritage constitute 40% of California’s population with 34% white, 16% Asian American or Pacific Islander, 6% Black and 3% multiracial. The United States as a whole is 75% white, but the trend is clear: White people are a minority among American K-12 students.

Trump doesn’t like that future. He looks backward to a mythical 1950s when America was overwhelmingly white, Jim Crow flourished, wives stayed at home, TVs were tuned to “Gunsmoke” and “Leave It to Beaver” and America’s largest companies included General Motors and U.S. Steel, not Apple and Nvidia. He is attacking California because of its leading position among the states, just as he has targeted Harvard as the nation’s most prominent institution of higher learning. He has threatened to cut off federal funding to both. If California and Harvard buckle under his authoritarian assaults, others might meekly follow.

In 1775, the Patriots were fed up with King George III. In 2025, Californians are fed up with Trump. A poll this year shows a clear majority of all Californians believe they’d be better off if their state could peacefully leave the Union. Perhaps the departure would even be welcomed by Trump supporters. About half of the nation’s Republicans believe California is “not really American.” Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis has implored, “Don’t allow Florida to become San Francisco.”

California accounts for 14% of the U.S.’ output of goods and services. If it were an independent nation, it would be the world’s fourth largest economy, trailing only the rest of the U.S., China and Germany. In 2024, California grew faster than any of them. At a time when the overall federal deficit is massive, California pays $83 billion more in federal taxes than it receives in federal funds. Without California, the other states would have a larger deficit to deal with, while an independent California would run a substantial surplus.

To Californians, that sure looks like taxation without representation. In 2000 and 2016, they supplied the votes that provided Al Gore and Hillary Clinton with an edge in the nation’s popular vote. But thanks to the arcane Electoral College, which provides more weight to voters in small states, George W. Bush and Donald Trump were awarded the presidency in those elections.

Trump believes in “the art of the deal.” From a transactional perspective, Californians may have struck a bad one in joining the Union.

I myself am a Californian, a proud product of its public schools, a fan of its weather, beaches, music, diversity and athletic teams. I worked in Silicon Valley. I am married to a native Californian who traces her roots in the state back to when it was a Spanish colony. But even with all that, my loyalty to the United States trumps my Californian roots. I owe so much to this country that has provided a life of freedom and bounty to my forebears and me. My father felt the same when he fought against fascism in World War II.

Trump and his MAGA followers need to be careful, though, in their war on California.

Mark Twain is one of many reputed to have said, “It is difficult to make predictions, particularly about the future.” In fact, I am not going to predict that California’s departure from the Union is imminent. Still, Donald Trump ought to bear in mind that George III didn’t figure on the loss of Massachusetts from his empire when those troops were sent to Lexington.

— Keith Raffel is a syndicated columnist with Creators.