Donald Trump Is Running the Military Like a Warlord

“No Kings” has become a powerful rally cry for Donald Trump’s second term. Saturday, Hundreds of American city protesters Gathering under the “No Kings” banner, using the coincidence of the flag day falling on his birthday, offering an anti-message to the president throwing a huge military parade to satisfy his ego. The appeal of “No Kings” as a message is clear. It both summons the noble little republican spirit of the American Revolution and blames Trump’s dictatorial pretense.

However, while “No Kings” is resonant and popular, it may be analytically more accurate to say “Warlords No.” After all, the Kings base their powers on the legitimacy that tradition has been approved (no matter how suspicious it is). Trump’s abuse of power is even more crude than that, based on his mere assertion that he can order people in the government (including law enforcement and the military) without checks from the judiciary or Congress. This is not the power of a king, even under its absolute form, bound by tradition and concessions to powerful nobility, but it is closer to the governance of the warlord, the ruler who must carry out all his orders.

Trump’s aspiring is evident in the way he tried to break down the tradition of depoliticizing the military. Over the past few weeks, Trump has taken a series of actions. From turning the speech at Fort Bragg into a campaign rally to sending troops to subjugating Los Angeles protesters, it makes clear that the troops want to be subordinate to themselves.

Trump’s project to suppress the military is at the heart of his authoritarianism. Critics and Historians I’m skeptical of the claim Trump is a fascist threat often points to the fact that he does not have a mobilization of classic fascist dictators. The proud boys may be annoying fools, but they rarely measure Benito Mussolini’s black shirts, Adolf Hitler’s brown shirts, or organized terrorist gangs who stole political enemies. The attack on the Capitol on January 6 was a serious attempt to destroy democracy, but also fainted when the National Guard-backed Capitol police restored order. The Magazine movement, worthy of the age of social media, is about passive audiences rather than street battles.

But despite the limitations of Maga’s mass movement, Trump has always had a clear path to fascist-style governance. If Trump could overcome the traditional taboos of politicizing the military, he might be able to destroy democracy. Instead of the Maga black shirt, Trump was able to command the Maga army. He also was able to do the same in federal law enforcement and gave him the Magazine Gestapo.

Trump’s first term came with a dangerous and important moment when Trump wanted to use the army to crush protesters who were enraged by the murder of George Floyd. As I said at the time, this was the clearest example of Trump’s authoritarianism, and that fact was. The military leader resisted Trump’s attempts to use them as political tools helped save American democracy at moments of greatest danger.

In Trump’s second term, he clearly tries to remove military resistance to his rule. On Tuesday, he gave a speech at Fort Bragg. Trump addressing the military I said“In Los Angeles, the mayor of Los Angeles, they were incompetent and paid troublemakers, agitators and rebels. They are engaged in this deliberate attempt to help the city take over by criminal invaders.”

When he got in the way, some of the soldiers cheered on Trump’s dishonor. But as a new site miliary.com It was revealedthis applause was also a form of political manipulation, as the army of the audience was being examined for their beliefs.

The Internal 82nd Airborne Division News, reviewed by Military.com, reveals a rigorously organized effort to curate the optics of Trump’s recent visit, including recruiting soldiers for his audience based on political trends and physical appearances. The army, who was ultimately chosen to be behind Trump and to be visible on camera, was almost exclusively male.

One unit-level message was frankly saying, “There are no fat soldiers.”

Trump’s Fort Bragg speech was a formed use of the military as a political prop. Trump products were also sold at the base. As New York Times Notethis speech was “the latest in the latest efforts of a series of famous efforts to reshape the army more with his own portraits.”

The era It offers an impressive catalog of Trump’s military politicization.

It began with his administration’s decision to remove many of the senior black and female officers from co-headed and other command positions. It is reportedly As part of its initiatives on diversity, equity and inclusion. It continued his resolve to revive and pay former service members who were discharged after refusing to vaccinate Covid in violation of their military health obligations. And when he dispatched active duty troops to create military zones along the US border with Mexico, it was a complete display.

But it’s best illustrated this week that he deploys around 4,000 National Guard and 700 Marines on the streets of Los Angeles after protesting his immigration policies. The president is now capturing American troops directly by American citizens, most of which are not violent and simply angered at the Trump administration’s decision.