Before cheering troops at Fort Bragg earlier this week, Trump brushed aside criticism. “A lot of people say we don’t want to do that. I say yes we do,” he said, invoking his signature brand of political bravado. “We want to show off a little bit.”

The standard to dispatch the military to a state is not simply in the eye of the beholder. There are limited legal circumstances in which a president is supposed to deploy the military domestically.

The deployment of troops to Los Angeles raises questions about what Trump can and can't do with the military on U.S. soil, and whether he's crossing the line.

"If he can successfully militarize LA without significant political consequences, Baltimore is next," said Angela Angel of BLM PAC.

By Omar Younis, Brad Brooks, Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -U.S. Marines deployed to Los Angeles made their first detention of a civilian on Friday, part of a rare use of military force to support domestic police and coming ahead of national protests over President Donald Trump's military parade in Washington.