President Donald Trump signed an ominous executive order Monday that calls for a sweeping reorientation of the National Guard around domestic policing. Particularly alarming is Trump's order that the secretary of defense create a "quick reaction force" within the National Guard prepared for "rapid nationwide deployment" as part of a broader effort at "quelling civil disturbances and ensuring public safety." While it's not clear exactly what form such a force would take, Trump appears to be making an extraordinary attempt to amass autocratic power by misusing the military for policing. Trump wants the "civil disturbance" to become a focal point of the National Guard. Part of Monday's executive order directs the National Guard in every state to be trained to help federal and state law enforcement with "quelling civil disturbances and ensuring the public safety and order whenever the circumstances necessitate." While we don't know exactly how the new emphasis will play out, the broad takeaway is that Trump wants the National Guard spending less time training for deployment abroad and more time training for deployment domestically as a potential policing power. This is a preview of Zeeshan Aleem's latest column. Read the full column here. |
