ANALYSIS — President Donald Trump has shifted into a noticeably military mindset, just days before hundreds of tanks and combat vehicles will rumble along the streets of the nation’s capital.
“Those foolish enough to challenge America’s Army have been met with unyielding strength, unbreakable spirit and unstoppable, overwhelming force,” Trump, wearing a red 82nd Airborne Division ball cap, said at an event in Fort Bragg, N.C., where the storied unit is based. “Time and again, our enemies have learned that if you dare to threaten the American people, an American soldier will chase you down, crush you and cast you into oblivion.”
Speaking before a crowd that included servicemembers and veterans, Trump warned potential foes that the soldiers surrounding him would hit them with “the ferocious roar of the U.S. Army, an infantry brigade charging over the horizon. That brigade is going to charge like you’ve never seen before.”
On World War II, Trump again showed a willingness to go where his predecessors would not: “We’re the ones that won the war. Without us, you’d all be speaking German right now. Maybe a little Japanese thrown in. But we won the war.”
Trump started the day by contending that had he not ordered National Guard troops and active-duty Marines to Los Angeles, “that once beautiful and great city would be burning to the ground right now.” Onstage at the Army base, he called modern-day Los Angeles a “trash heap.”
Hours before Trump spoke, new polling delivered a warning to the White House that the president’s heavy-handed tactics could threaten the support his immigration policies have enjoyed among American voters.
A YouGov survey conducted Monday showed 56 percent of U.S. adults believed state and local officials should take the lead on handling the Los Angeles protests, with 25 percent pointing to the federal government and 19 percent unsure. The same poll also found 50 percent of respondents disapproving of the Trump administration’s handling of deportations, with 39 percent approving. On the Los Angeles protests: 45 percent disapproved and 36 approved.
Here are three takeaways from the president’s remarks in North Carolina:
‘Tarred and feathered’
Trump’s appearance Tuesday at a celebration for the Army’s 250th birthday put him at a site of one of his second administration’s cultural flash points just as another, Los Angeles, was expected to enter a fifth day of protests over his mass deportation program.
Earlier this year, the administration changed the base’s name back to Fort Bragg, contending that the moniker honored a World War II paratrooper — and not the Confederate general for whom it had been named before President Joe Biden renamed it Fort Liberty.
Before Trump departed the White House, he told reporters that there were parts of Los Angeles where protests had become so violent on Monday night that an insurrection could have been declared.
After a wildfire briefing from several Cabinet officials, Trump was asked in the Oval Office if he would use the Insurrection Act to unlock even more powers to end protests in Los Angeles. The president replied, in part, that he would decide on using the law simply by observing conditions on the ground.
“If there’s an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it,” he said. “We’ll see. But I can tell you, last night was terrible. The night before that was terrible.”
Trump also said he spoke to California Gov. Gavin Newsom “a day ago” to inform the Democrat that he was doing a bad job with the protests. But Newsom responded by contending on social media that there was no Monday call.
Hours before Trump’s Fort Bragg remarks, Speaker Mike Johnson was asked during a news conference on Capitol Hill whether he agreed with the president’s apparent Monday endorsement of Newsom’s arrest over resisting federal help.
“I’m not going to give you legal analysis on whether Gavin Newsom should be arrested,” the Louisiana Republican said, “but he ought to be tarred and feathered.”
Military mindset
Trump has had a military mindset in recent days, from his Los Angeles deployment orders to talking up his upcoming military parade in Washington to a lengthy operational demonstration at Fort Bragg that he watched from a bunker, surrounded by Army personnel in combat gear.
Helicopters and planes engaged targets. Small teams with combat rifles and K-9s raided empty buildings. Around 600 soldiers from the Bragg-based 82nd Airborne Division parachuted onto a mock battlefield from C-130 and C-17 aircraft. Pro-military and pro-war music played over loudspeakers.
“I want to thank so many incredible soldiers and paratroopers, pilots, warriors, for that awesome display of pure, unrivaled American military might,” the commander in chief told thousands of soldiers. “I just saw something that was crazy. You don’t want to mess. I’ve been saying for a long time: We have the best.
“Nobody even comes close to us. But they just gave me a display that you might be lucky not to see it — because it’s a little scary,” Trump added. “It was beautiful to watch.”
Notably, some of the soldiers booed each time Trump mentioned Biden, his predecessor. At the start of his remarks, as his campaign entrance song, “God Bless the USA,” faded out, a line of Army combat helicopters performed a fly-by near the stage where his blue presidential lectern stood behind bulletproof glass.
The show of Army force came two days after Trump was asked if he could order troops to other parts of the country where protests may turn violent. He responded, “We’re going to have troops everywhere. We’re not going to let this happen to our country.”
‘Visionary leadership’
House Republican leaders, at a morning news conference, used the unrest in Los Angeles to try giving Trump some cover and to cast Democrats as pro-rioters and pro-illegal immigration.
Speaker Johnson contended that Democrats were “engaging in the applause of destruction of cities and all sorts of chaos. The contrast is so clear, and everybody can see it.”
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise credited Trump with “bold visionary leadership” and attempted to pin blame for the unrest on some high-profile House Democrats.
“He stopped the invasion of our country, and he engaged in the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history. We’re in the midst of that right now,” the Louisiana Republican said. “Rioters acting on the words of politicians like [New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] and [Minority Leader] Hakeem Jeffries are trying to stop this effort by burning storefronts and endangering the lives of patriotic law enforcement officers.
“The contrast could not be any more clear,” Scalise added. “Again, innocent hardworking Americans have been harmed by the failed leadership of Democrat governors like Gavin Newsom. President Trump was absolutely right to send in the National Guard and to clean up for the governor’s failures.”
Newsom responded later by posting a video on social media, arguing that Trump’s National Guard deployment would hinder the state’s wildfire response operations.
“Trump doesn’t care about protecting Californians. He’s militarizing our state & provoking chaos,” the governor said.
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