WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in response to a “crime emergency” in the U.S. capital could be a harbinger of patrols in other American cities.
In an executive order issued Monday, the president outlined his plan to create a “specialized unit” within the Washington, D.C., National Guard to combat crime in the capital, as well as similar units in each state, and a “standing National Guard rapid reaction force” ready to be deployed quickly across the country.
Randy Manner, a retired major general and former acting deputy chief of the National Guard, said Trump is deploying armed National Guard soldiers to further his authoritarian political ambitions.
“This is going to terrorize the public and desensitize Americans to the normalcy of having an armed, uniformed military on our streets,” Manner, who now works with a group called National Security Leaders for America, which warns of threats to democracy, said in an interview with HuffPost.
On Tuesday, Trump joked about criticism that his police takeover posed a dictatorial threat.
“The narrative is: I’m a dictator, but I fight crime,” Trump said during a televised cabinet meeting. “A lot of people say, ‘If that’s the case, I’d rather be a dictator.’ But I’m not a dictator. I just fight crime.” »
The White House has hailed the hundreds of arrests made with the help of federal law enforcement since Trump took over the Washington, D.C., police force and sent federal agents to the city earlier this month. So far, the National Guard has not directly assisted police with arrests. Instead, troops have been deployed to locations like Union Station and the National Mall, talking to tourists and taking photos, though their mission appears to vary from day to day. This weekend, the previously unarmed troops began carrying weapons and picking up trash.
The Washington, D.C., Home Rule Act gives Trump authority over the city’s police force—separate from the military or federal agents—for only 30 days, as the state of emergency is not intended to be permanent. A long-standing federal law prohibits the government from using the military as police.
But Trump’s Monday executive order provides for the continued role of a new National Guard team “dedicated to maintaining public order and safety” in the city. Furthermore, the order directs the Secretary of Defense to ensure that each state’s National Guard has a unit ready to be rapidly mobilized to quell civil unrest and ensure public safety and order whenever necessary. In addition, the order stipulates that a similar team should be “available for rapid deployment nationwide.”
It is unclear whether the White House intends National Guard troops to be more directly involved in maintaining public order, or whether the new units will simply provide a reassuring, even deterrent, presence, as they have done so far in Washington.
Trump declared a state of emergency to combat crime earlier this month following the assault of a city employee by youths. This declaration comes even as statistics indicate that crime in Washington, D.C., while still high, has declined in recent years, as in other major cities. The White House has defended the increase in police and federal personnel, seeing it as a logical solution to the situation on the ground.
“The National Guard troops deployed to our nation’s capital are there to enhance the safety of residents, visitors, and law enforcement against dangerous criminals who have been allowed to kill, assault, steal cars, rape, and distribute deadly drugs with minimal consequences,” White House press secretary Taylor Rogers said in an email. He added that Trump’s crackdown has “already restored peace and order to our beloved capital.”
Trump previously federalized the California National Guard and sent troops to Los Angeles in response to protests against immigration controls. California filed a lawsuit, citing a federal law prohibiting the military from performing law enforcement duties except in rare circumstances. This case, still pending and likely to go before the Supreme Court, will test the limits of presidential authority over the military and domestic policing.
In addition, Trump is considering sending troops to Chicago, despite warnings from Democratic Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker.
“It’s possible, or it’s not. We could intervene, which we probably should,” Trump said at the White House on Monday. “The problem is, it’s not pleasant to step in and have someone else step in and say, ‘When everything’s fine, we’re told, ‘Well, we don’t want the military.’”
Matt Cleary, an associate professor of political science at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, said the United States has stricter rules than most other countries regarding the deployment of troops domestically. However, he added that the mere presence of troops on American streets, such as what happened recently in Washington, D.C., doesn’t necessarily indicate a “decline” of democracy in the United States.
“It’s a common practice in other democracies when absolutely necessary,” Cleary told HuffPost. “It’s never perfect, and this measure should only be used in the United States or any other democracy in cases of true emergency, when there is no There is no other solution, and it should always be temporary. But I will remain vigilant.”
Trump and his predecessors in the White House have deployed National Guard troops to the southern border to assist with immigration enforcement, but most other National Guard deployments have occurred in response to major public unrest or natural disasters, such as hurricanes, or mass protests and riots such as the one that erupted following police violence in 2020. The most common activities of National Guard troops include clearing roads, transporting supplies, and managing traffic. Their most famous deployment was the shooting of unarmed student protesters at Kent State University in 1970.
The crime situation in Washington, D.C., resembles neither a hurricane nor a mass demonstration, and the massive Army vehicles designed to protect soldiers from improvised explosive devices in Iraq and Afghanistan looked out of place parked on city sidewalks. One of these vehicles, a Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle (MRAP), ran a red light and struck an SUV traveling on a neighborhood street last week. First responders had to use specialized equipment to extract the driver from the wrecked vehicle.
Manner, a former deputy commander of the National Guard Bureau, said the incident demonstrated the inadequacy of the Guard’s deployment. After all, the vehicles they brought to the city were designed to transport troops through real war zones.
“In urban areas, you can barely see through these vehicles to monitor cars,” Manner said. These vehicles are not designed for use in normal U.S. city traffic. The question now is: why do they use them? I see only one reason: it’s simply an intimidation factor.