 "Why is Donald Trump creating new 'war zones' for US military?")
What is President Donald Trump up to?
In a development that has left many alarmed, Trump seems to be attempting to expand the use of the US military. Trump, who has already sent the National Guard to Democratic-run cities, is now seemingly preparing to deploy US troops on American soil.
Trump and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth earlier this week addressed hundreds of top US generals at the Marine base in Quantico.
But what do we know? What is he planning to do?
What we know
The Trump administration has claimed that the US is at war with drug cartels. It did so after Trump ordered strikes on boats in the Caribbean. Trump has made the assertion in a presidential memo.
“The President determined that the United States is in a non-international armed conflict with these designated terrorist organisations,” the memo states. Trump directed the Pentagon to “conduct operations against them pursuant to the law of armed conflict.”
“The United States has now reached a critical point where we must use force in self-defence and defence of others against the ongoing attacks by these designated terrorist organisations,” the memo says.
This is a practically unheard-of assertion of presidential powers by the Trump administration.The government earlier conducted strikes on what it claimed was a drug boat in Venezuela. The White House has claimed that the boat was part of the Tren de Aragua cartel and was heading to the United States with drugs. Trump claimed 11 drug traffickers had been killed in the strike.
However, there are doubts as to whether this is in fact true.
Experts have said that the strikes overseas in all likelihood contravene international law and have questioned whether Trump even has the authority to do so. Under the US Constitution only Congress has the power to declare war – though this is unlikely to stop the administration as the Republicans control both the House and the Senate.
There are also reports that the Trump administration has deployed several naval warships off the coast of Venezuela.
Venezuela slammed what it called an "illegal incursion" Thursday by US fighter jets into an area under Venezuelan air traffic control, accusing the United States of a “provocation” that “threatens national sovereignty.”
What is he planning to do?
Trump, with this memo, and his remarks to generals earlier this week, seems to be attempting to expand the boundaries of what he can and cannot do with the US military both at home and overseas.
Trump in his speech to the generals earlier this week said America was at “war from within”. He claimed the military could be deployed in “dangerous” American cities “run by radical-left Democrats” and used as “training grounds”.
“We’re under invasion from within. No different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways because they don’t wear uniforms,” Trump said.
Trump has previously taken aim at the Democrats as the ‘enemies within’.
“We’re going to straighten them out one by one. This is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room. It’s a war too,” Trump said.
“History is filled with military heroes who took on all enemies, foreign and domestic,” he said in a reference to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln who “used the armed forces to keep domestic order and peace.”
“Many of our leaders used the military to keep peace. Now they say you aren’t allowed to use the military,” Trump said.
The US president, who mused about deploying the military domestically during his first term, faced pushback from top brass at the time.
Trump at the beginning of the speech noted how he wasn’t applauded. “If you want to applaud, you can applaud.” He also seemed to jokingly threaten the generals.
“If you don’t like what I’m saying, you can leave the room—of course, there goes your rank and your future. You just feel nice and loose, okay, because we’re all on the same team.”
Ironically, Trump’s threats to deploy the US military in American cities come even as crime rates across the country continue to steadily decline.
Even a cursory reading of this speech shows that Trump is seemingly laying the groundwork for deploying US troops in American cities. Many speculate that the reason for doing so is to curb dissent against his already unpopular government.
The problem with this is that it is patently illegal under the law. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 forbids the president from using the troops as his personal police force. Deploying US troops on the streets of America is also a bad idea for several reasons. The foremost one is that the military is trained for two things – to take territory and to kill. Any deployment of US troops on American soil in a showdown with protesters could go horribly wrong, as any number of experts have already pointed out.
And the images of US troops cracking down on protesters on American soil – as if it were any other country run by a strongman – would be visually devastating and only further soil America’s already dented reputation around the world.
All this comes as Trump and Defence Secretary Hegseth have already culled the ranks of many of the US’ top officers and sought to rework the military in their own image.
What are critics saying?
Critics have already taken aim at Trump. They say Trump is a dictator-in-waiting and might even take steps to influence the mid-term elections or suspend them entirely.
California Governor Gavin Newsom wrote on X:
“This speech should terrify anyone who cares about our country. Declaring war on our nation’s cities and using our troops as political pawns is what dictators do. This man cares about nothing but his own ego and power.”
Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said drug cartels are “despicable” but the Trump administration has offered “no credible legal justification, evidence or intelligence for these strikes.”
Reed, a former Army officer, said:
“Every American should be alarmed that their president has decided he can wage secret wars against anyone he calls an enemy.”
The American Civil Liberties Union also slammed Trump.
“In cities across the country, the president’s federal deployments are already creating conflict where there is none and instilling profound fear in people who are simply trying to live their lives and exercise their constitutional rights,” the ACLU said in a statement.
What happens next? Will Trump order America’s top generals to deploy the military on the streets of America? Will they refuse and risk a constitutional crisis? Will he order them to shoot protesters? Will the US Supreme Court back him up if it comes to that? Or will we witness scenes many could never have imagined? One can only wonder what comes next in Trump’s second term.
With inputs from agencies
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