Trump Gave the Military's Brass a Rehashed Speech. Until Minute 44

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

Several hundred military commanders turned up at Quantico on Tuesday morning. Some had flown in for it from places as far away as Germany, Brussels, Japan and South Korea. They sat mostly in silence as Mr. Trump talked for 73 minutes about the same things he talks about almost every day, no matter where he is or to whom he is speaking.

He talked to the generals about Joseph R. Biden Jr. and the infamous autopen. He talked about the media. He talked about tariffs and the border. He talked about the time he went to a restaurant in Washington to eat dinner. He talked about not being awarded a Nobel Peace Prize he felt he had earned.

But if the generals were paying attention during minute 44 of the president’s speech Tuesday, they would have heard the fleeting but unmistakable sound of something new. Something different.

It was at that moment that the president recounted a conversation with his defense secretary: “I told Pete, we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military.”

We should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military, the president of the United States said.

Trump Gave the Military’s Brass a Rehashed Speech. Until Minute 44. - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/us/politics/trump-military-brass-speech.html

[struggle4progress]

1. Brain Damage

[Joinfortmill]

2. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph he needs to be restrained. Seriously.

[Septua]

3. I'm trying to decide if all his latest insanity...

..is just distraction away from Epstein and shitty poll numbers or an attempt to get all the sane military brass to resign.

[usonian]

4. Training Grounds for good relations with the average ciitizen.

When I was with the Coast Guard, the Coast Guard rented space from the University of Connecticut for its first R&D Center, a joining of Headquarters people and the Field Testing Unit.

https://averypoint.uconn.edu/

Tough working conditions.



Much later, a big R&D facility was built across the river in New London

https://www.dcms.uscg.mil/Our-Organization/Assistant-Commandant-for-Acquisitions-CG-9/Research-Development-Test-and-Evaluation/Research-and-Development-Center/

But while I was there, we mingled with the students and had a great relationship with them, while doing our research and testing.

It CAN be done
But not lately

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. MaddowBlog-Trump pitches generals and admirals on using U.S. cities as military 'training grounds'

Much of the president’s speech to military leaders was stale and dull. But then he started talking about using the military against the “enemy within.”

Much of Trump’s speech to generals and admirals was stale, boring, and predictable.

But when he turned his attention to the “enemy within,” and started talking about using U.S. cities as military “training grounds,” this was a qualitatively different kind of pitch. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-09-30T16:48:25.800Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-pitches-generals-admirals-using-us-cities-military-training-grou-rcna234708

The rhetoric was mind-numbing, but it was also inappropriate: The in-person audience included several hundred highly decorated generals and admirals. There was no reason to treat these men and women as if they were little more than sycophantic partisan supporters waiting for fresh red meat.

But making matters far more serious was Trump’s pitch on using the U.S. military on American soil. NPR summarized:

President Trump defended the use of U.S. troops in American cities and told top U.S. commanders that the military would be used against the ‘enemy within.’ ... ‘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,’ Trump told those gathered for the highly unusual event at Quantico, Va. ‘It won’t get out of control once you’re involved at all.’

“The ones that are run by the radical left Democrats, what they’ve done to San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, they’re very unsafe places. And we’re going to straighten them out one by one. And this is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room,” he told military leaders. “That’s a war, too. It’s a war from within.”

Trump: "The ones that are run by radical left Democrats -- what they've done to San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles. They're very unsafe places & we're gonna straighten them out one by one. This is gonna be a major part for some people in this room. That's a war too. It's war from within"

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-09-30T14:13:18.668Z

As part of the same argument, the president said he’s told Hegseth that the U.S. “should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military.”

Trump: "San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles...That's a war too. It's a war from within...I told Pete, we should use some of these cities as training grounds for our military — national guard, but military. We're going into Chicago very soon."

— The Bulwark (@thebulwark.com) 2025-09-30T15:19:27.239Z

After troop deployments in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., as well as announced deployments to Memphis and Portland, Oregon, many raised concerns about the president’s willingness — and apparent eagerness — to use military force against Americans. After Trump’s speech to generals and admirals, those concerns deserve to be a whole lot louder.