jaybealeJun 11, 2025
Judd Legum
1. Trump has publicly and privately fantasized about deploying the military on US soil against protesters for years.

In LA, with little justification, he has made those dreams a reality, violating longstanding democratic norms.

He has manufactured a crisis.

Let's review the history.

🧵
Jun 9, 2025 at 2:16pmWeb
Show threadJudd LegumJun 9, 2025
2. Trump strongly advocated for using the military to quell racial justice protests in the summer of 2020. He publicly encouraged governors to deploy the National Guard to "dominate" the streets.

"If a city or state refuses to take the actions necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them," Trump said.

https://popular.info/p/trump-manufactures-a-crisis-in-la
Trump manufactures a crisis in LA

For years, President Trump has dreamed of mobilizing the military against protesters in the United States.

Popular Information
Show threadJudd LegumJun 9, 2025
3. Behind the scenes, Trump was even more ruthless.

According to a 2022 memoir by former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Trump asked Esper if the military could shoot at people protesting George Floyd's murder.

"Can't you just shoot them?" Trump asked. "Just shoot them in the legs or something?"
Show threadJudd LegumJun 9, 2025
4. On another occasion that summer, according to a book by journalist Michael Bender, Trump announced that he was putting Army General Mark Milley, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in charge of quelling the protests.

This reportedly led to a shouting match:
Show threadJudd LegumJun 9, 2025
5. During a March 2023 campaign rally in Iowa, Trump pledged to deploy the National Guard in states and cities run by Democrats, specifically mentioning Los Angeles.
Show threadJudd LegumJun 9, 2025
6. In October 2023, the Washington Post reported that Trump allies were mapping out executive actions "to allow him to deploy the military against civil demonstrations."

In an October 2024 interview on Fox News, Trump again pushed for the National Guard and military to be deployed against "the enemy within," which he described as "radical left lunatics."

https://popular.info/p/trump-manufactures-a-crisis-in-la
Trump manufactures a crisis in LA

For years, President Trump has dreamed of mobilizing the military against protesters in the United States.

Popular Information
Show threadJudd LegumJun 9, 2025
7. By the time Trump mobilized the National Guard over the objections of California's leaders, the "rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States" consisted of a few dozen people outside a Home Depot
Show threadJudd LegumJun 9, 2025
8. Basic liberties are under assault. For unflinching and accurate reporting, subscribe to Popular Information.

It's free to sign up.

popular.info/subscribe

http://popular.info/subscribe
Subscribe to Popular Information

Independent accountability journalism. Click to read Popular Information, a Substack publication with hundreds of thousands of subscribers.