Gallego Straight Up Says ‘The President’s an Idiot’ When Asked About Shock Military Remarks

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) pulled no punches on Tuesday when asked to react to President Donald Trump’s suggestion earlier in the day that the military could use American cities as “training grounds.”

Gallego spoke to CNN anchor Boris Sanchez, who wrapped up their interview by asking, “And lastly, Senator, is there anything in place that would prevent the president from going about using certain cities in the United States as a training ground for the military, as he described it earlier today?”

“Look, the president’s an idiot,” replied Gallego, who is also a former Marine.

“He doesn’t actually understand how the military works. The first thing it’s going to be is that most U.S. citizens will stand against that in civil protests, and you’ll have many of us joining them in that if they try to do such a thing,” Gallego continued, adding:

Number two, the oath that our members of the military take—they will not be firing upon their own men and women, their own neighbors. Only, again, an idiot like Donald Trump would believe that such a thing could happen. And thirdly, we’ll do everything within our constitutional power to make sure we hold anybody accountable should they ever do something of that nature.

And whether it’s now or when this president is gone, anybody that engages in that type of action against our civilian population will be held accountable one way or the other. And, you know, I think most—in fact, all of the people I’ve ever served with—understand their oath to the Constitution. It’s not to this president. And when that moment comes, they’re going to live up to that Constitution.

Trump spoke to hundreds of U.S. generals and admirals at a rare gathering of top brass in Quantico, Virginia, earlier in the day. During his unwieldy speech, full of political attacks, Trump said, “And I told 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’s very soon.”

Watch the clip above via CNN.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!