Trump defends using troops to police U.S. cities in address to military leaders [View all]

[Celerity]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/09/30/trump-hegseth-generals-meeting-live/

https://archive.ph/0RnGQ


President Donald Trump is greeted by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth before speaking to a gathering of top U.S. military commanders at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, in Quantico, Va. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump on Tuesday defended the administration’s use of the military to police U.S. cities, decrying “the enemy within” and citing presidents early in the country’s history who “used the armed forces to keep domestic order and peace.” His comments came during an address to hundreds of senior U.S. military officers during an extraordinary meeting that has placed many of the Pentagon’s top generals and admirals in one room. Earlier, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pledged to fix “decades of decay” in the military, which he blamed on “foolish and reckless politicians.” The gathering, at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, was ordered by Hegseth last week and required some top military officers across the globe to fly thousands of miles on short notice to attend.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/09/30/trump-hegseth-generals-meeting-live/#link-A6LVQQMOSRBQDOAUHKBSLT4DUE

President Donald Trump wrapped his speech to military leaders at Quantico after about an hour and 10 minutes — remarks that characteristically veered from topic to topic. While he spoke at times about military strength, he also addressed his love of tariffs, for example, and repeatedly praised the work of firefighters.

Notable military leaders in the audience for Trump, Hegseth summit

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/09/30/trump-hegseth-generals-meeting-live/#link-GPSCNDGG2JFWDNMIS2MDJ4Q4PM


At right, the U.S. Special Operations Command chief, Gen. Bryan Fenton sits with other military leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, where President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth addressed senior military officers Tuesday.


Center, Gen. Eric M. Smith, the commandant of the Marine Corps, sits with other military leaders as they listen to Trump’s address.


Seated at the end of the second row is Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, commander, U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/09/30/trump-hegseth-generals-meeting-live/#link-GYFNBMCT4BD63EDI2WU6BDLLOI

The Pentagon’s top generals and admirals listened with little visible emotion as President Donald Trump spoke, keeping with military protocol as their commander in chief sought to elicit reaction, according to pool reports. One naval officer took notes while others sat silently. Laughter occasionally followed a joke, but Trump’s attacks on former president Joe Biden were met with silence.

Trump says military leaders will be ‘major part’ of fighting ‘war from within’ in American cities

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/09/30/trump-hegseth-generals-meeting-live/#link-2GDRTPA5CVDIHK45WV4EIFD42Y

In his speech to top military leaders, President Donald Trump escalated his rhetoric against the “radical left,” repeatedly calling the group “the enemy within” and insisting that he should be able to use military force in American cities.

“I told [Defense Secretary] Pete [Hegseth] we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military National Guard. But military, because we’re going into Chicago,” Trump said Tuesday at Quantico, referring to his efforts to deploy military to blue cities and states “to keep domestic order and peace.”

Though Trump has, in recent months, frequently attacked blue cities and states, it was the first time he directly addressed military leaders and told them they would be “a major part” of fighting a “war from within” in cities such as San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles.

“We’ve brought back the fundamental principle that defending the homeland is the military’s first and most important priority. That’s what it is,” Trump said. “Only in recent decades that politicians somehow come to believe that our job is to police the far reaches of Kenya and Somalia, while America is under invasion from within. We’re under invasion from within. No different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways because they don’t wear uniforms — at least when they’re wearing a uniform, you can take them out. These people don’t have uniforms, but we are under invasion from within, and we’re stopping it very quickly.”

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