‘A war from within’: Trump tells military leaders to use ‘dangerous’ American cities as ‘training grounds’ for troops

President Donald Trump spoke to hundreds of top military leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia on Tuesday. He defended his choice to send troops to American cities and said he plans to do more of it. The meeting brought together nearly 800 generals, admirals, and their senior enlisted leaders from around the world. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called them together.

Trump said that crime in America is a threat to national security and needs the military to deal with it. He said that defending the country at home was the military’s “most important priority.” He told the leaders in the room that they could be asked to help with federal action in cities run by Democrats.

According to The Hill, Trump told the military officials that they should use American cities as “training grounds” for troops. “I told Pete, we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military, National Guard, but our military, because we’re going into Chicago very soon,” he said. “That’s a big city with an incompetent governor.” The president called the crackdown on crime in major cities “a war from within,” adding that “this is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room. That’s a war too. It’s a war from within.”

Military deployments face legal challenges and opposition

The government has already sent National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., Memphis, Tennessee, and Portland, Oregon. Officials say this is to deal with crime and immigration problems. But these moves have faced big pushback from state and local officials. There have also been legal challenges. A federal judge ruled earlier this month that Trump’s use of the National Guard in Los Angeles was illegal. The judge said it broke the Posse Comitatus Act, which limits how the military can be used for law enforcement inside the country.

D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb filed a lawsuit to stop the deployment in the nation’s capital. He said Trump has ignored the long-standing rule that the U.S. military should not be used for law enforcement at home. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have both said they do not want troops in their city. Johnson called the plan “illegal and costly.” He said the city is not asking for American troops to occupy American cities. Pritzker said he is trying everything he can to stop the president from using the military to invade states.

Polls show Americans are split on using military troops for law enforcement at home. A CBS poll found that 51% of Americans think using the National Guard does not reduce crime. Only 36% said they feel safer because of these deployments. Nearly 80% of Washington, D.C., residents did not want the deployment in their city, earlier polling showed. Trump has long talked about security and law enforcement as key parts of his political plans, but using military forces for policing inside the country remains controversial.