'Petrified little children': Lawyer slams 'tough talking' GOP govs over troop deployment

The reluctance of GOP governors to accept President Donald Trump's deployment of National Guard troops to their state revealed something about their character, according to one lawyer.

On Friday, the Trump administration said it had more than 1,700 troops ready to deploy to 19 states as part of its immigration crackdown. Fox News reported that some of the states include states with Republican governors, such as Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming.

Marc Elias, a lawyer and founder of Democracy Docket, said on a recent episode of "Democracy Watch" with progressive YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen that he reached out to these Republican governors about the deployment. Most of the governors did not reply to his requests for comment, and Elias said the few that did sent him statements that read like "gobbledygook."

"They're like petrified little children," Elias said. "These governors are tough-talking about deploying the National Guard. But not when it comes to telling their own constituents the truth, right?"

Trump has also threatened to deploy the National Guard to Democrat-run cities like Chicago, Illinois, and Los Angeles, California, to address local crime.

Earlier this year, Trump deployed the National Guard to California in response to protests against his immigration policies.

"When it comes to saying, 'Hey, you know, we actually have a bigger crime problem here in our state, so maybe we should do this here,' they don't want to talk about that," Elias continued.

Watch the entire episode below or by clicking here.