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US President Donald Trump expanded his military campaign in his own country and announced on Monday, Established troops to the capital Washington, DC, to send the city to “free” the city.
Other cities in sight
The operation in Washington, launched two months after the start of the hard procedure in Los Angeles, expands a domestic political state-style campaign. High-ranking government employees describe them to Rolling Stone as a “shock and awe” power test. An allusion to the Iraq war that Trump pretends to reject.
And it gets worse. The president and his top officials publicly emphasize that DC and LA are not the end. Other military options would be ready. Facts, laws and data do not matter. Trump and his team believe that he can do what he wanted at any time. Also use the US military for domestic purposes and intimidate opponents. Specific plans for this are already being drawn up behind the scenes.
“Do not make any illusions. This is just the beginning,” said Jeanine Pirro, US prosecutor for the District of Columbia and loyal Trump supporter, on Monday evening. It had been used by Trump to “put on a skull”.
At a press conference on Monday, Trump announced that the federal government took over the “direct” control over the DC police. The national guard will soon occupy the city. If necessary, he will also take other democratically governed cities such as Chicago, Oakland and Baltimore. The democratic governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker, compared Trump’s approach, according to “Chicago Tribune” with the Nazis, who destroyed the Weimar Republic.
Lessons from the first term
Trump has long dreamed of using the military on American soil for its political agenda. The missions in DC and LA are decisive steps of his increasingly authoritarian government to punish opponents in democratic regions, to enforce his hard immigration policy and to drive away homeless people. On Monday, he announced that federal forces would “remove the homeless warehouse from all of our parks”. And it is not allowed to “transform our capital into a garbage dump for the world”.
One of Trump’s greatest regret from his first term, according to current and former advisors, was that in 2020 he did not act harder against the protests at that time. At that time, while pandemic and nationwide protests for racial justice, he even considered to have Black-Lives-Matter demonstrators shoot near the White House. What his then defense minister rejected.
In October 2024, Rolling Stone reported that Trump and his team have long been planning a takeover of the DC police-regardless of the actual security situation. These plans also affect other cities.
In the past few months, government employees and lawyers have developed detailed options to repeat Trump’s militarization in other democratic strongholds. National guards are already in use in DC. According to two sources, Trump said privately that he would send more troops at any time if he assessed protests than too big or dangerous – as before in Los Angeles.
Bypass of legal limits
Trump has long complained that the National Guard must not be used for all types of domestic police work. The Posse-Comitatus law prohibits the use of the military in internal law enforcement-but the government actively examines bypass paths. “There are things that have been done in the past, but it doesn’t have to stay that way,” said a high government official.
The aim is to make these military missions-even in quiet times-an integral part of US politics. Trump sees this a legitimate instrument that is more common in authoritarian states. With loyal followers in key positions, he wants to expand this strategy. “He will do that more often,” said another official.
Justification and reality
The government officially justifies the deployment in DC with allegedly escalating homelessness and violent crime – most recently after an attack on a government employee. However, public data show that violent crime has decreased significantly in the capital. The city government had not requested that Trump help, most residents reject it.
There are quite effective ways to help the homeless and residents of poorer, criminal -stressed neighborhood – but the government is not interested in it. When asked about fighting causes, Pirro replied on Tuesday that she did not take care of “why they commit crimes”, but only for punishment.
Instead, it is about a “shock and awe” staging for the cameras. Trump is supposed to regularly follow how his military missions are shown on television – especially with Fox News. Right media and politicians support the presentation that DC is a dangerous place that requires military intervention.
The Republican party said in a circular email on Monday: “President Trump saves our capital after the Democrats have transformed them into a hell of Hell.”
Makes instead of security
The rhetoric of a “crime emergency” looks unbelievable because crime decreases. In addition, Trump pardoned hundreds of followers of January 6, 2021 – also violent offenders against police officers.
It’s not about fighting crime – but about power. Unlike in his first term, Trump now has a team that is ready to ruthlessly use the military to secure this power.