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Many legal scholars say the current battle over Los Angeles is a test case for powers the White House has long hoped to wield — not just squelching protest or big-footing blue state leaders, but stretching presidential authority to its legal limit.

The fact Trump dispatched troops to tamp down protests in Los Angeles, the biggest blue megalopolis in the nation’s biggest blue state, cannot be ignored.

Trump and then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called such requests a "blue state bailout" and suggested that the state should go bankrupt if it requests relief during the global emergency.

Even in California, a reliably blue state, the soul-searching has been extreme, as seen at last weekend’s state Democratic Party convention, where a parade of speakers — including Harris’ 2024 running mate, Tim Walz — wailed and moaned and did the woe-is-us-thing.

As a blue state with a massive immigrant population, California is a key player in the nation’s immigration showdown.