Trump's MAGA-fied military prepares for "war from within"

More than 800 top military brass sat quietly Tuesday as President Trump declared a new "war from within" — fixated on an American battlefield he claimed to be more dangerous than any foreign war zone.Why it matters: In one historic speech at the Quantico Marine Corps Base in Northern Virginia, Trump eviscerated decades of civil-military restraint and proclaimed the armed forces as his weapon of choice against domestic "enemies."Both the content and setting were unprecedented: Generals and admirals flew in from across the globe to hear the president redefine the military's mission and attack his political enemies in blistering terms."We're under invasion from within. No different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways because they don't wear uniforms," Trump mused during Tuesday's extraordinary hour-long address.The big picture: Trump vowed repeatedly on the campaign trail last year to unleash the military on the "enemies within" — a phrase he has used interchangeably to describe both violent criminals and elected Democrats.Now that he's in office, the context is radically different: Trump already has ordered the National Guard to Los Angeles, D.C., Memphis and Portland — often over the objection of local officials.He sees those deployments as a playbook for other deep-blue cities such as Chicago, Baltimore and San Francisco, which he said Monday should be used as "training grounds" for the military.What they're saying: "We're going to straighten them out one by one. This is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room. It's a war too," Trump told the leaders of the world's most powerful military."History is filled with military heroes who took on all enemies, foreign and domestic," he said, pointing to George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and other presidents who "used the armed forces to keep domestic order and peace.""Many of our leaders used the military to keep peace. Now they say you aren't allowed to use the military," he lamented.Between the lines: By wrapping himself in historical precedent, Trump tried to normalize what would be a dramatic break from modern U.S. civil-military tradition.The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 was designed to prevent presidents from using the armed forces as a domestic police force, a guardrail that has shaped American democracy for nearly 150 years.Trump has treated it more as a nuisance than a constraint — sidestepping it with repeated National Guard deployments, and establishing a new "quick reaction force" for quelling domestic unrest.Zoom in: Opening the Quantico gathering, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the military would scrap "overbearing rules of engagement" and "untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt and kill the enemies of our country."Trump then applied that sentiment to the home front, urging troops who are harassed or assaulted by protesters to "get out of that car and do whatever the hell you want to do."Trump's language suggested an expansion of the National Guard's role beyond its current focus on protecting immigration agents and federal buildings."If it's OK with you, generals and admirals, I've taken that off. I say, they spit, we hit," Trump said.The other side: Democrats and civil rights advocates say Trump's speech confirms their worst fears: that he views the military as his personal police force.Critics have raised constitutional questions, including whether the president could use the armed forces to influence an election.As he departed the White House Tuesday morning, Trump told reporters that he would fire any generals he disliked "on the spot."He then drew laughter from the brass by beginning his speech: "If you don't like what I'm saying, you can leave the room. Of course there goes your rank, there goes your future."The bottom line: A new New York Times/Siena poll underscores how polarizing Trump's vision is.51% of voters said they're more concerned about Trump using the National Guard to intimidate his political opponents than they are about crime spiraling out of control in Democrat-led cities, while 42% said the opposite."In cities across the country, the president's federal deployments are already creating conflict where there is none and instilling profound fear in people who are simply trying to live their lives and exercise their constitutional rights," the ACLU said in a statement.

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