It’s hard to keep up with what’s happening in Los Angeles. And why. On Saturday, federal agents were jumping out of an unmarked van near a Home Depot parking lot and began grabbing people.

Then we heard that Donald Trump had called in the National Guard. And then the Marines.

And then, yesterday afternoon, Californian governor Gavin Newsom delivered a rebuke to Donald Trump in a nationwide address, saying: “What we’re witnessing is not law enforcement - it’s authoritarianism.”

Today, international and political editor Peter Hartcher, on why we are witnessing the opening scenes of a new phase in American history.