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Secretary of War Pete Hegseth delivered a “pep talk” to our military’s general and admirals, preparing them for a war on American cities.
“This is a moment of urgency, mounting urgency. Enemies gather. Threats grow. There is no time for games,” Hegseth said. “The time is now and the cause is urgent.”
Which enemy is that? The only enemy Hegseth mentioned, and only in passing, was China, adding “China is another speech for another day coming soon.” After Hegseth, however, President Donald Trump spoke more specifically about the “war” this administration wants the newly named “Department of War” to fight and who it views as the “enemy.”
“Our inner cities,” Trump said, “which we’re going to be talking about because it’s a big part of war now, it’s a big part of war.”
Which cities? Again, Trump was specific. Cities “that are run by the radical left Democrats,” Trump said and provided four examples — “San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles.”
“They’re very unsafe places and we’re going to straighten them out one by one,” Trump claimed. “And this is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room,” he told our military leaders. “That’s a war too. It’s a war from within.”
Trump later added another city to the list, “Portland, Oregon, where it looks like a war zone.”
But who will the military be sent to fight in this supposed war on American cities? Trump mentions criminals, immigrants, and protesters.
After describing protesters spitting on law enforcement and law enforcement not responding with force, Trump said, “If it’s OK with you generals and admirals, I’ve taken that off. I say, they spit, we hit. Is that OK? I think so. They spit -- it’s a new thing. They spit, we hit.”
And regarding protesters who throw rocks and bricks, Trump said, “From now on if that ever happens, and I say it here, you get out of that car and you can do whatever the hell you want to do.”
After encouraging the use of military force against protestors, Trump added, “Last month, I signed an executive order to provide training for a quick reaction force that can help quell civil disturbances. This is going to be a big thing for the people in this room because it’s the enemy from within and we have to handle it before it gets out of control. It won’t get out of control, once you’re involved, at all.”
Alarmed? You should be.
Historically, the U.S. military is not used on American soil except under rare and extreme circumstances. The crime rate is trending downward and none of the top 10 cities with the highest murder rate were mentioned by Trump. Additionally, the U.S. military is not trained to do law enforcement. If we want to devote more resources to fighting crime, I support that. But those resources should go to law enforcement, not the military. Using the military in cities is a recipe for chaos, not order, which may be the point to begin with.
What We’re Reading
Peter Wehner: “Fully MAGA-fied Christianity”
The churches and denominations that are not militantly MAGA but are still overwhelmingly composed of Trump supporters often get less attention than churches and denominations that are hyper-politicized, but they’re also essential to the Trump coalition. So it’s useful to understand the complex dynamic at play in those spaces.
I say complex because, every Sunday, millions of Christians attend churches that are nondenominational and that are affiliated with conservative Protestant denominations. These churches aren’t particularly political, and they are led by pastors who preach thoughtfully on topics such as loving your enemy and turning the other cheek, which Jesus talked about during his Sermon on the Mount; and on verses like this one, found in the Book of Ephesians, written by the Apostle Paul: “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
The great majority of people attending these churches wouldn’t consider those verses to be woke talking points; they would view them as the inerrant word of God. They would earnestly pray that those words would sanctify their life and that they would become more like Jesus. And almost to a person, these congregants would say that Christ is at the center of their life, their “all in all.”
Yet many of them will spend part of the rest of the week, and maybe much of the rest of the week, in the right-wing echo chamber, in the company of conflict entrepreneurs, having their emotions inflamed, feeling the same way toward their enemies as Donald Trump does toward his enemies. And it will all make perfect sense to them.
Axios: “Study: Left-wing terrorism outpaces far-right attacks for first time in 30 years”
Halfway through 2025, attacks by far-left extremists outpaced far-right violence for the first time in more than three decades, according to new research from the Center for Strategic & International Studies.
Cato: “President Trump Plans To Investigate and ‘Disrupt’ Opposition Speech”
More than anything, this order signals a crackdown directed against speech by one side in the national discussion, Trump’s political adversaries. It matters not that Trump himself has regularly spoken in terms that might equally be seen as dehumanizing opponents, likening them to some of history’s worst totalitarian rulers, and even at times countenancing violence, or that his allies regularly engage in revealing the identity of obscure public employees who then experience death threats and similar pressures. Those will not be included among what the order describes as “sophisticated, organized campaigns” designed to “silence opposing speech, limit political activity, change or direct policy outcomes, and prevent the functioning of a democratic society.”
As with Trump’s wave of prosecutions instituted over the objections of professional prosecutors, we now have a signal for all willing to listen that federal law enforcement is being turned into the instrument of one man’s zeal for revenge and appetite to accumulate power.
What We’re Watching
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