California’s governor is making the most of the spotlight that has been cast on him as Los Angeles enters its sixth day of violent civil unrest. Gavin Newsom’s attempt to leverage the emergency facing his constituents has, however, taken a novel twist. Typically, elected officials who are tasked with managing a crisis attempt to project competence and calm. Newsom, by contrast, has treated the riots and the GOP’s hostility toward them as an opportunity for comedy.

The governor’s press office spent the day on Tuesday populating social media with TikTok videos, in which the president’s missives, which castigate California’s Democratic elected officials and promise to restore order with or without their cooperation, are read in a silly voice evocative of characters from the Star Wars franchise.

Embed: https://x.com/GovPressOffice/status/1932447842683249033

Embed: https://x.com/GovPressOffice/status/1932515354435375531

By the evening, the governor’s office had moved on from Trump to Stephen Miller:

Embed: https://x.com/GovPressOffice/status/1932574765514174485

Well, at least Sacramento is treating this whole violent rioting thing with the sobriety and judiciousness it demands.

It’s not at all clear why Newsom’s communications staff thought that flippancy was the proper response to a civic crisis in his state’s largest city. What delusion would convince them that the emergency he is presently facing — one typified by violent attacks on police, profligate property destruction, “mass arrests” of lawless demonstrators, and a curfew order for parts of downtown L.A. — was a moment for levity?

Although it serves their political interests to do so, the Trump administration has responded to the violence in L.A. as though it were a serious emergency. Doubtlessly, many Angelenos feel the same way. Democrats have responded to this challenge with far less consistency. When they weren’t arguing that the riots were no big deal, they claimed that they’re only a big deal because Trump is to blame for them. Now, they seem to have settled on a new line: the riots are funny. Either that, or the people who take civil unrest seriously are a joke.