CNN —

In September 2020, President Donald Trump suggested he was hamstrung to crack down on at-times-violent racial justice demonstrations in cities like Portland, Oregon.

“Look, we have laws. We have to go by the laws,” Trump said at an ABC News town hall , adding: “We can’t call in the National Guard unless we’re requested by a governor.”

Trump noted there was one way he could do that – by invoking the Insurrection Act – but added that “there’s no reason to ever do that, even in a Portland case.”

Something has clearly changed since then.

Trump this weekend became the first president in about 60 years to call in the National Guard without a request from a governor – to help quell protests in Los Angeles against Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids.

He did so without

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