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Trump Tells Generals the Military Will Be Used to Fight ‘Enemy Within’ President stresses that some U.S. cities will be used as training grounds for American troops
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1:54 1:48 / 1:54 Hundreds of commanders and senior officers from around the globe were summoned to the unprecedented gathering at Quantico, Va. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Reuters “San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, they’re very unsafe places and we’re gonna straighten them out one by one,” Trump told hundreds of senior U.S. military officers packed into a hall at the Marine Corps base at Quantico, Va.
“This is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room. That’s a war too. It’s a war from within,” Trump added.
Trump’s speech, which lasted well over an hour, followed an address by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who last week summoned generals and admirals from around the world to the meeting.
Much of Hegseth’s talk centered on his longstanding contention that U.S. military standards were relaxed during previous administrations in which diversity and inclusion were an important part of the Defense Department’s personnel policies.
Senior military leaders attend a gathering at Marine Corps Base Quantico. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images Members of the military attend a meeting convened by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Senior military leaders were called to the meeting at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Va., as the Pentagon revises the National Defense Strategy. Photo: kevin lamarque/Reuters “When it comes to any job that requires physical power to perform in combat, those physical standards must be high and gender neutral,” said Hegseth. “If that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it.”
Hegseth, who has rebranded himself with Trump’s backing as a secretary of war, received a polite but muted response from the military officers, who have long prided themselves on being apolitical and are uneasy about the looming cuts Hegseth has said he will make in the ranks of top officers and past firings.
Trump praised Hegseth’s talk and doubled down on the role that he sees for the National Guard and active-duty military in stopping what the president described as disorder at home, preventing illegal immigration and targeting suspected drug smugglers in Latin America.
“I told Pete we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military—National Guard, but military—because we’re going into Chicago very soon,” Trump said.
Trump also underscored his policy of conducting airstrikes against suspect drug traffickers. Those strikes have been carried out against boats at sea, and Trump has previously suggested they might be conducted against targets on land, too.
“The military is now the knife’s edge in combating this sinister enemy,” said Trump. “We have to put the traffickers and cartels on notice.”
Hegseth on Sunday ordered 200 National Guard to be sent to Portland Ore., under federal authority to combat what the White House has described as rampant lawlessness in the Democratic-led city. The deployment is to “protect federal property” where protests are “occurring or likely to occur,” according to Hegseth.
President Donald Trump being greeted by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth before speaking at Tuesday’s gathering. Photo: Evan Vucci/Associated Press Oregon’s governor, Tina Kotek, has charged that the deployment of the National Guard is unnecessary and an abuse of power. The state is suing to try to block it.
Around 2,000 National Guard troops were sent to Washington, D.C., in August, while Trump has repeatedly indicated that he wants to mobilize the troops in Chicago and Memphis. Tennessee’s governor, Bill Lee, has said that the National Guard could arrive in Memphis this week.
Trump previously sent the National Guard and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles, which he said were needed to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations from protesters.
The Quantico meeting was attended by hundreds of commanders and other senior officers, who had been instructed to attend the meeting at short-notice, which was without recent precedent.
Hegseth didn’t initially explain the purpose of the session in directing the officers to be there, which added to the unease in the ranks. Trump, who wasn’t part of the Defense Department’s initially planning for the event, later decided to attend.
Trump joked at the start of his speech about the subdued response from the military officers, which was a far cry from the raucous crowds at his political rallies.
“I’ve never walked into a room so silent before,” said Trump, who also suggested that officers were free to ignore his comments. “If you don’t like what I’m saying, you can leave the room, of course, there goes your rank, there goes your future,” he jested.
He then spoke warmly about the military. “I am with you. I support you, and as president, I have your backs 100%,” he said.
Much of Trump’s speech involved familiar political attacks on “sleepy Joe Biden” and Democrats.
Donald Trump departs after addressing military officers, pointing forward as he walks past several military flags. President Trump departs after addressing senior military officers at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Va. Photo: jim watson/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images The meeting comes as the Pentagon is revising the National Defense Strategy, a seminal document that establishes spending and operational priorities, which is issued every four years.
The emerging strategy, said current and former officials, underscores the priority of securing the Western Hemisphere, a requirement that reflects the Trump administration’s opposition to the Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro and the White House’s focus on stopping illegal immigration.
But the strategy is also being drafted as the U.S. military is trying to strengthen its capability to deter China from taking action against Taiwan in the Western Pacific and the Pentagon is encouraging European nations to assume the lead role in defending the continent against potential Russian aggression.
Even with defense spending running at about $1 trillion a year, there is a fierce competition for resources as the military services move to develop new weapons, improve the readiness of their current forces, fill diminished munitions stockpiles and take on new projects, including Trump’s costly “Golden Dome” initiative to try to develop a nationwide antimissile defense.
The military also faces other challenges about its role at home and abroad. The White House’s decision to deploy the National Guard in U.S. cities has raised fundamental questions about whether the military is overstepping the bedrock principle that it shouldn’t be drawn into domestic law enforcement.
The military is also being challenged by lawmakers and legal experts about its expanding role in the Caribbean, including airstrikes carried out against suspected drug smugglers at sea. That role is likely to expand in the coming months as the U.S. deploys more forces to Puerto Rico.
The White House says that the use of force is justified by Trump’s authority as the commander in chief to protect the country. Some former military lawyers and critics in Congress have said it isn’t supported by the Constitution and amounts to extrajudicial killings.
Much of Hegseth’s address focused on standards in the military, saying personnel would be judged on their fitness and appearance. Physical fitness tests would be set to male standards, he stressed. He also emphasized the importance of grooming among male personnel. “The era of unprofessional appearance is over,” Hegseth said. “No more beardos.”
Write to Michael R. Gordon at michael.gordon@wsj.com and Shelby Holliday at shelby.holliday@wsj.com
Makes me think of the Russian Militsia. Not sure they still have it, but in the late 90s there was no other (visible) Police.
It is blatantly unconstitutional and impeachable
Assuming we have elections next year, and further assuming Democrats don’t pooch it, impeachment is all but certain (if they don’t screw that up too)
Impeachment is pointless if you can’t get enough votes to convict. To do that without republican votes would require the democrats to win literally every senate race. Not going to happen, no matter how much the republicans deserve to lose.
Slightly less unlikely would be for a huge wave election to give a large majority to democrats and for a handful of republicans to be willing to vote with the dems because they start seeing the trump administration as a political liability. Still insanely unlikely, just not as unlikely as a clean sweep in the midterms.
If only Schumer and Jeffries could go the fuck away so we wouldn’t have to be stressed about whether we could win the EASIEST ELECTIONS EVER
How convenient is it for them that the only body that can hold them accountable (Congress) is rooting them on, and purposefully letting them off the hook!
The Supreme Court as well. So much for checks and balances…
Fucking treason against the Republic. He is the enemy of the State.
If I had to come up with the most un-American thing (as in American self-image) anyone could say, this is probably it.
So, the department of war is deploying troops to our cities where we live.
Is there, like, a word for when armed men from tge department of war go to a place to kill people?
“special military operation”
The world could really use American creativity, industrialism, and prosperity right now, instead we’re just going to punch ourselves in the dick for 4 years.
I’m sorry my country is so stupid.
4 years, I’m betting on 12. It may not be Trump in charge in 2029, but it will be whom the executive branch chooses because they now have direct control over the FCC, and all Campaign money. They can “legally” nudge out any support for candidates they don’t want running.
If there is an election and we don’t go to war just to enact wartime policies to “postpone” it
Not to mention all the tech billionaires falling in line and offering up their services.
Relatedly, Fiddle And The Drum has been stuck in my head for a few weeks.
The album Year Zero by Nine Inch Nails has been getting a lot of play for me, recently. It’s amazing how long the alarm bells have been going off for people paying attention.
Why does it look and sound like a Fox News host cosplaying as War Secr… Oh wait
I like Jack Reacher books. Guilty pleasure. So much fun to read.
Anyhow, he loved the army, being a soldier, the honor, truthfulness and responsibility. He would not stand for this.
Sorry if it sounds kitchy but my mind just makes that connection.
Trump, in my opinion, knows that Trump would lose any war other than against his own civilians.
We are surprisingly fat and stupid as a whole, you could probably kill a lot of people by hanging fried meat over a cliff or spreading new viral trends like eating lead and huffing exhaust fumes.
Or going maskless in a pandemic of respiratory-carried disease
Tell everyone they now have public health care … then let them run into a bamboo trap in front of the signup sheet
America was founded on guerilla warfare during authoritarian occupation by a mad tyrant. I think we will give him a run for his money if the hamberders don’t catch up soon
Eeeh. First, “mad tyrant” is a bit of a stretch. The crown was, by the standards of the time, much more lax with the colonies than other territories. More of a “late onset bipolar disorder constitutional monarch acting under advisement of qualified ministers”. Breaking away to try “not monarchy” and implement much of what we now consider modern government was by no means wrong, but it’s not quite the clear cut battle against evil the founding narrative describes.
Second, that was 250 years ago. Just about the only lingering effect is the slogan which has some inspirational qualities.
The bigger thing is that the military hasn’t fought against a technological equal in decades, and has never fought an asymmetrical war against a technological equal. If the opponent is close to technological parity, they use overwhelming force to remove that parity, and then fight from there. They can’t do that against the US, because they need those resources as well. Additionally, most of our defensive strategy relies on it being impossible to attack us in a reasonable way. The only force that can get here has to be small and sneaky. In a civil war situation, a significant number of military facilities are basically inside cities. They have defenses, but not the way they do in an overseas base. And being in cities, a significant number of pretty important sites are inside the areas that are currently being designated as hostile.
All the people doing the boring logistics and paperwork that drives most of the US military have to commute through the dangerous areas. Most of their families live nearby.
I miss when life was boring.
And every officer in that room is apparently okay with it.
Either that or they know that a walk out is hilariously less effective than sitting there and taking it, and then beginning to plan a coup after they speech is over.
In military tactics, telegraphing your next move to your enemy is generally inadvisable.
“I’ve never walked into a room so silent before,” said Trump, who also suggested that officers were free to ignore his comments. “If you don’t like what I’m saying, you can leave the room, of course, there goes your rank, there goes your future,” he jested.
Showing token opposition now accomplishes nothing. They could slightly diminish the fascist photo op, but at the price of losing their opportunity to do something later when it actually matters.
That they all seem to be less than thrilled about the situation is a good sign. That said, I’m not going to hold my breath for any of them to disobey orders or arrest the president. At most, I would expect them to only do the bare minimum to be able to say they followed orders, with perhaps a little bit of malicious compliance where possible. Unfortunately, most of them will probably just pass the illegal orders down the chain of command with a brief reminder to the troops that they also need to obey the law while carrying out those orders.
But if there are people in that room who want to resist, it probably wasn’t a great idea to drag them back from all over the world and put them in one place where they can potentially meet up and discuss things offline. Given the situation, I wouldn’t be shocked if some of them wanted to make sure that others were on the same page and maybe discuss some hypotheticals.
That was no jest.
But if there are people in that room who want to resist, it probably wasn’t a great idea to drag them back from all over the world and put them in one place where they can potentially meet up and discuss things offline. Given the situation, I wouldn’t be shocked if some of them wanted to make sure that others were on the same page and maybe discuss some hypotheticals.
Discuss offline, and exchange details for secure long-distance communication. I don’t know how many military types will be into PGP, but hey, Signal is whiskeyleaks-approved and actually works great when you don’t drunkenly add random journalists
I wouldn’t assume that yet. They still haven’t been given the illegal orders yet. We’ll see what happens when Trump orders the military (not the National Guard, the actual Army) into Chicago and New York.
I dunno how familiar you are with the US military recruitment and training process, but they are very much selected for and drilled specifically to follow orders without question. I wouldn’t advise getting your hopes up that there’s going to be some sudden mass resistance within the military against fascist orders. It’s not impossible, but very unlikely.
My understanding was that officers are generally far more educated (and have even heard before that they tend to lean left?) compared to enlisted soldiers.
And generals are the tippy top of that. I have a small amount of hope that the people there know better than to allow this to continue.
Depends where we are on the Paths of Glory/Dr. Strangelove index
I think it’s more likely that they don’t follow orders simply because they recognize how fucking stupid their leadership is. They have been drilled to follow orders but they are also some of the most competent strategic minds there are. The buffoonery of Trump and Hegseth probably makes them feel like they are far above these fools, just simply because it’s clear that their bosses are absolute morons. Further, they have to also be keenly aware that Hegseth has minimal actual military experience and Trump has none at all. Why would they follow orders from people they have no intellectual respect for and think are making grave tactical mistakes? They won’t go on suicide missions just because an uneducated fuckwit told them to.
He also announced a purge of military leadership.
He could help with that whole enemy within thing by killing himself in a way that maximizes collateral damage among his cabinet. Like if he just spontaneously combusted during one of those ass-kissing meetings of his. One can only hope.
Trump hates Americans.
her laugh tho
