Trump's War on America
To allow Trump's autocratic allies to prosper, our military and intelligence must take on new roles at home. We can sound the alarm with those who serve.
President Donald Trump wants the Department of Defense to become the “Department of War.” The FBI is rolling back investigations into violent white supremacists and other domestic extremists. And the military and other security forces are being deployed to police civilians in America.
These goals and situations are connected in ways that reveal the priorities of this nascent regime. I return, again, to Trump’s June 2024 campaign statement about North Korea, China, and Russia: “If you have a smart president, they’re not enemies. You’ll make them do great.”
To that end, the Trump administration is strengthening its alliances with these known adversaries of our country, and dismantling the U.S. national security and intelligence apparatus used to defend the country from their malign acts (espionage, financial corruption, election interference, disinformation, transnational repression, and more).
Our enemies thrive on creating chaos for and in America, and the Trump administration is doing them a favor by also diverting government resources from tracking known threats such as U.S. hate groups, anti-government extremists and militias.
To allow our enemies to expand and prosper in the world, the Trump administration is in addition seeking to use the military and state security and intelligence forces to target the domestic population and intimidate political opponents. For now, the focus is on protesters, opposition politicians, immigrants, individuals seen by Trump as his personal enemies, the homeless, the mentally ill, and other perennial autocratic targets.
Diverting more of our military’s resources for use inside our borders, or having them deployed in Latin America to fight drug cartels is a gift to anti-American dictators and bad actors all over the world.
So is military action that advances the interests of Trump’s autocratic partners. Trump’s Iran strike on behalf of Israeli head of state Benjamin Netanyahu comes to mind.
The Military Must Become Trump’s Personal Tool
Of course, the leader Trump most cares about is Trump, and the military must become his personal tool, lending itself to operations driven by his manic will to expand his executive power and punish and destabilize Democratic state and municipal authorities.
The deployment of a Marine infantry division that served in Iraq and Afghanistan in Los Angeles, the sight of military vehicles and armed National Guard troops in Washington D.C., and Trump’s threats to give the same treatment to Chicago and other Democrat-led cities, have borne out my June forecast that Trump is gearing up to pursue a “forever war” on Americans.
Fake crime and national security emergencies are being used to justify attempts to extend Trump’s executive power over municipal and state authorities and use the military and National Guard for civilian policing and repression. This is a version of the playbook followed by El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, and other despots.
Hiring and retaining an incompetent toady as Secretary of Defense is another sign that the military is not supposed to operate as it did in the past. So is the dismissal of numerous experienced military officials capable of defending the United States from foreign aggression.
During the election campaign, Trump spoke repeatedly about liberating territories in the United States that had been supposedly “invaded and conquered” by immigrants. It soon became clear that Trump’s plans would not spare the United States military.
I knew from my studies of military dictatorships that armed forces, once turned on civilians, lose their integrity and honor. Instead of being admired by the public for defending the country from adversaries, the armed forces become the adversary. And the corrosive effects on troops at being asked to commit violent acts against civilians cannot be overstated. Over time, discipline and morale are gravely affected.
I had planned to talk about the outcomes for militaries under dictatorships, focusing on Chile under Augusto Pinochet, as the Bancroft Lecturer at the United States Naval Academy in October 2024. But MAGA members of Congress mobilized to have the invitation rescinded. Now we know why.
“From Venezuela to Nicaragua to Belarus, militaries and state law enforcement have chased political opponents out of the arena, incarcerated citizens without due process, and rigged elections for the benefit of the chief executive in charge,” Protect Democracy analyst Jon Steinman writes in Stars and Stripes.
This could be the fate of America as well.
What We Can Do: Action Items
It is vitally important that current and former members of the military, the Guard, police units, and others in state and federal security forces be educated about the possible consequences of Trump’s actions. Having conversations with people you know who serve, and sending them reading material from trusted information sources such as Stars and Stripes may be helpful to this end.
Here are a few resources on how to respond to these developments as they pertain to the National Guard.
We are living in a terrible nightmare. I took the Metro to the “Smithsonian stop” here in DC last Friday. Upon leaving the station, there were groups of National guardsman milling around. For the first time, I wasn’t sure what to say, - and saying “thank you for your service” didn’t seem quite appropriate. I don’t believe these guys are necessarily “protecting me”, - but rather, monitoring me. As a vibrant protestor and activist, I believe these guys are “in place” now, to quell and subdue future protests. I’m also aware that “proud-boy” types could easily INFILTRATE and then INSTIGATE trouble purposely at upcoming protests, - so then activists will taper off and stop attending our protests. Our enemies are watching this unfold with glee, as we are destroying ourselves from within. It’s utterly shameful. - BTW, I went to visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture, - while it’s still there and in its ‘original’ and intended form. Who knows what they’re going to do with THAT museum?
So if ICE is Trump’s new private army, who will stop them from preventing free and fair elections? He’s putting together a group to oversee “free and fair elections”, aka an election czar and we know that works.