President Trump just posted on his Truth Social that he made a great decision in sending in the National Guard to Los Angeles, arguing the city would have been “completely obliterated” if he hadn’t done so.

Here’s his full post:

We made a great decision in sending the National Guard to deal with the violent, instigated riots in California. If we had not done so, Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated. The very incompetent “Governor,” Gavin Newscum, and “Mayor,” Karen Bass, should be saying, “THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP, YOU ARE SO WONDERFUL. WE WOULD BE NOTHING WITHOUT YOU, SIR.” Instead, they choose to lie to the People of California and America by saying that we weren’t needed, and that these are “peaceful protests.” Just one look at the pictures and videos of the Violence and Destruction tells you all you have to know. We will always do what is needed to keep our Citizens SAFE, so we can, together, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

From my understanding, the only thing the National Guard did was protect the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building, which houses an immigration detention center near downtown LA.

That being said, can you imagine the chaos if rioters had been able to access the building in order to burn it down? Trump may be exaggerating some here but his point is still valid, because the lawlessness that would have ensued would have been a massive threat to the city.