Daily Briefing: Has Trump overblown the threat of protests?

Good morning!🙋🏼‍♀️ I'm Nicole Fallert. BRB, crying with Beyoncé's 7-year-old daughter Rumi.

It's Wednesday. Here is the news:

• A curfew for parts of LA lifted early this morning.
• A major protestant congregation is calling for the end of same-sex marriage.
• Did you catch the strawberry moon?!

Residents, local officials say Trump inflated LA situation

President Donald Trump's deployment of thousands of troops to the nation's second-largest city has unleashed indignation and anger among residents and local officials who say the threat of immigration protests has been dramatically overblown by the White House.

• "It's a sense of intimidation and fear that is just so unnecessary": Mayor Karen Bass said she believes her city is "an experiment" for White House officials in learning how to displace local control.
• Trump argued LA law enforcement was overwhelmed and dispatched 4,000 members of the National Guard and 700 Marines to Los Angeles, an escalation estimated to cost about $134 million, according to a Pentagon official.
• But few of those troops are actually on the streets. LA protests are still primarily handled by the Los Angeles Police Department and other local law enforcement officers.

Elsewhere in America, immigration remains a flashpoint

As protests in Los Angeles over the Trump administration's immigration crackdown continue, demonstrations were reported across the country in San Francisco, New York, Washington, Boston, Dallas, Chicago and Atlanta in recent days. Most have remained peaceful, but a few escalated into clashes with police.

• Meanwhile, an immigration raid Tuesday at a meat production plant in Omaha, Nebraska, was the "largest worksite enforcement operation" in the state during the Trump presidency, the Department of Homeland Security said.
• In Milford, Massachusetts, immigrants in this blue-collar town say they are living in constant fear of ICE raids that have rounded up 1,500 undocumented people throughout Massachusetts.

More news to know now

• Elon Musk says some of his posts about Trump "went too far."
• Is Walmart drone delivery coming to your city?
• ABC News cut ties with Terry Moran over a Stephen Miller social media post.
• If you fly on a U.S. airline, your personal information could be sold to CBP.
• A distressing number of Americans are worried about their jobs.

What's the weather today? Check your local forecast here.

Southern Baptists vote to seek repeal of historic same-sex marriage ruling

The Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution supporting a concerted effort to reverse Obergefell v. Hodges as the historic U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage approaches its 10-year anniversary. The June 10 vote by the nation’s largest Protestant denomination represents a doubling down on issues of gender and sexuality as the predominant group of evangelical Christians signals the SBC’s hopes of replicating the successful campaign to overturn Roe v. Wade. But whether the latest vote will move the needle on same-sex marriage, a right backed by a strong majority of Americans, remains to be seen.

US and China reach export deal

U.S. and Chinese officials in London, England, said Tuesday they agreed on a framework to get their trade truce back on track and remove some of China's export restrictions — offering a little sign of a durable resolution to longstanding trade tensions. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters the framework deal puts "meat on the bones" of an agreement reached last month in Geneva to ease bilateral retaliatory tariffs that had reached crushing triple-digit levels. The Geneva deal had faltered over China's continued curbs on critical minerals exports.

Today's talkers

• Sydney Sweeney is unrecognizable in the Christy Martin biopic.
• I went to a social sauna for a party, and it was nothing like I expected.
• Oprah's new book club pick for June is here.
• Who will win the 2025 U.S. Open?
• Simone Biles is standing up for transgender athletes.

June welcomes a rare strawberry moon

The strawberry moon reached its peak early Wednesday at 3:44 a.m. ET, NASA said. However, the moon dazzled backyard astronomers everywhere in the evening Tuesday, as the spectacle rose during dusk, according to LiveScience. The strawberry moon is set low sky, so revelers needed to access a location where to see the eastern horizon at a low angle. This moon is one of the lowest in the sky, and the moonlight reflects the Earth's atmosphere, giving it a yellow or orange tint. Here's how it got its "strawberry" name.

Photo of the day: A headache for USMNT

The U.S. men's national team had one of its worst performances in recent memory, coughing up four goals in a hapless, helpless first half en route to a 4-0 loss to Switzerland on Tuesday. Things went just about as badly as it sounds.

Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at Paste BN, sign up for the email here. Want to send Nicole a note? Shoot her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com.