A leading Democrat has compared Donald Trump to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin after the US president told military leaders on Tuesday that the armed forces should use US cities as “training grounds”.
JB Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, which is bracing for Trump to deploy national guard troops to his state, questioned the president’s mental health and accused him of behaving like an autocrat.
“It appears that Donald Trump not only has dementia set in but he’s copying tactics of Vladimir Putin,” Pritzker said. “Sending troops into cities, thinking that that’s some sort of proving ground for war, or that indeed there’s some sort of internal war going on in the United States is just, frankly, inane and I’m concerned for his health.”
Since returning to office in January, Trump has used crime and illegal immigration as a pretext to expand federal agents and national guard troops into cities led by Democrats, often with big African American populations.
The president deployed in Los Angeles in June and Washington DC in August despite the objections of local officials and official figures showing that crime is falling. And over the weekend Trump announced plans to send national guard troops to what he described as “war ravaged” Portland, Oregon, though the city and state are seeking a restraining order, claiming that the president has overstepped his legal authority.
On Tuesday, the attorney general, Pam Bondi, said a federal taskforce operation in Memphis, Tennessee is under way. Meanwhile, Louisiana’s governor asked for a national guard deployment to New Orleans and other cities.
Trump dialled up the pressure further on Tuesday at a rare gathering of more than 800 military leaders in Quantico, Virginia. He said: “Last month I signed an executive order to provide training for quick reaction force that can help quell civil disturbances. This is gonna be a big thing for the people in this room, because it’s the enemy from within and we have to handle it before it gets out of control.”
The phrase “enemy within” was used by Senator Joseph McCarthy in a 1950 speech about threats to democracy. McCarthy is best known for his aggressive campaign against alleged communist infiltration in the US government and society.
Addressing an auditorium full of top brass from around the world, Trump said he told Pete Hegseth that “we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military.”
Trump acknowledged that he has been criticised for deploying the military on US streets but claimed America was in the grips of a battle against immigrants in the country illegally. “America is under invasion from within,” he said. “We’re under invasion from within. No different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways because they don’t wear uniforms. At least when they’re wearing a uniform, you can take them out.”
The president encouraged soldiers harassed or assaulted by protesters to “get out of that car and do whatever the hell you want to do”.
Democrats condemned the remarks as a dangerous escalation worthy of an authoritarian.
Gavin Newsom, the California governor, whose name has been floated as a possible 2028 presidential contender, said the speech should terrify people.
“Declaring war on our nation’s cities and using our troops as political pawns is what dictators do. This man cares about nothing but his own ego and power,” Newsom posted on X.
Pritzker called for the 25th amendment to the constitution, which deals with the removal of a president incapacitated by a physical or mental illness, to be applied. “There is something genuinely wrong with this man, and the 25th Amendment ought to be invoked,” he said.
Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority leader in the Senate, told MSNBC’s Morning Joe programme: “So, this is totally against the American grain, and it’s one example of many that they’re moving to an autocracy away from a democracy. In dictatorships, the federal military goes into the cities to do bad things.”
Civil society groups also condemned the plans. Naureen Shah, director of government affairs of the equality division at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said: “We don’t need to spell out how dangerous the President’s message is, but here goes: Military troops must not police us, let alone be used as a tool to suppress the President’s critics.”
The Not Above the Law coalition said in a statement: “Trump’s suggestion that US cities should serve as military ‘training grounds’ represents a fundamental betrayal of American values. Our military exists to defend our nation and protect our freedoms, not to practice combat operations against our neighbors in our communities.”
The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 is supposed to prevent presidents from using the military as a domestic police force. But Trump has exploited a loophole by deploying the national guard, a reserve force often used for natural disasters, and creating a new “quick reaction force” for crushing domestic unrest.
At Tuesday’s event in Quantico, the defense secretary vowed the military would abolish “overbearing rules of engagement” and “untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralise, hunt and kill the enemies of our country”.
There were few visible reactions from the generals and admirals, who sat largely silent and expressionless. Trump, accustomed to roars or laughs at campaign rallies, found his punchlines fell flat.
