CNN —

President Donald Trump is nothing if not skilled at crafting alternate realities and using them to benefit himself politically. But his messaging around the Los Angeles protests has taken it to another level.

You could be forgiven for thinking Trump wants to create the illusion of a federal crackdown on protesters without everything that comes with the real deal. That’s not to say Trump is bluffing about a hands-on response — but there’s also value in creating perceptions.

Trump’s decisions to send in the National Guard and mobilize the Marines are controversial for a whole host of reasons. But for now, the guard and the Marines aren’t actually allowed to conduct law enforcement. The guard has had little engagement with protestors.

Unless Trump invokes the Insurrection Act,

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