Trump Stuns With Suggestion U.S. Cities Should Be ‘Training Grounds’ For the Military: ‘Pretty Damn Dystopian’
President Donald Trump sparked a wave of condemnation on Tuesday when he said he told Secretary of War Pete Hegseth “we should use” American cities “as training grounds for our military.”
Trump spoke to hundreds of U.S. generals and admirals at a rare gathering of top brass in Quantico, Virginia, following remarks from Hegseth. During his unwieldy speech, full of political attacks, Trump attacked the left, repeating his claim that ex-President Joe Biden intentionally let in murderers and other criminals.
“ The left doesn’t want to hear that, but we’re running it based on common sense and based on love of our country. But I want to salute every service member who has helped us carry out this critical mission. It’s really a very important mission,” Trump said, adding:
And I told Pete 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.
That’s a big city with an incompetent governor. Stupid governor. Stupid. They threw him out of his family business. He was so stupid. I know the family. He becomes governor. He’s got money. Not money that he made, but he ran for governor, he won, and now he criticizes us all the time.
Later on, Trump added, “How about Portland? Portland, Oregon, where it looks like a war zone. And I get a call from the liberal governor. ‘Sir, please don’t come in. We don’t need you.’ I said, ‘Well, unless they’re playing false tapes, this looks like World War… Your place is burning down. I mean, you must be kidding.’”
Trump’s comments quickly sparked alarm online, and many of his regular critics pounced to denounce what they see as dangerous democratic backsliding.
“The idea of the U.S. military ‘training’ against their fellow Americans is pretty damn dystopian,” replied Bill Kristol.
Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), a former Marine, added, “Today’s speeches by Trump and Hegseth were weak portrayals of ‘leadership’ by two small, insecure men. US cities should never be ‘training grounds’ for the military. There is no ‘enemy from within.’ The reputational and operational damage being done to our military will take years to undo.”
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