Messaging Guidance:

Trump Expands the Military’s Role in Law Enforcement

 

This summer, Donald Trump dramatically escalated his efforts to deploy the National Guard in cities run by his political opponents by directing the Defense Department to take a larger role in domestic law enforcement. In the months since, Trump has doubled down on these troubling efforts to consolidate power – most clearly demonstrated by his deployment of soldiers to police cities with Democratic mayors like Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte, and Washington, DC.  

Topline Messaging:

Trump Is Targeting Political Opponents, Not Criminals

  • Trump’s domestic deployment of troops is not about protecting communities. It is an act of political retribution, thinly veiled as public safety. 

  • These actions are aimed squarely at cities led by Democratic officials, sending a clear message: dissent will be met with force. 

  • It’s no coincidence that Trump’s threats have largely been directed at cities run by Black mayors – yet another example of racially divisive politics. 

  • This isn’t about crime – it’s a show of force aimed at intimidating those who don’t support him.

Trump Is Weaponizing the Military for His Personal, Political Gain

  • Trump is once again using the military as a political weapon – not to protect the public, but to intimidate and provoke. Using the military as domestic law enforcement is a dangerous and unnecessary escalation that serves Trump, not the country. 

  • Diverting military assets and resources undermines military readiness and American safety. 

  • Our men and women in uniform deserve better than to be used as political props by Donald Trump. 

Trump isn’t responding to a crisis – he’s executing a carefully crafted plan.

  • On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly proposed deploying the U.S. military in Democratically-run cities around the country – creating a pretext for using the armed forces as a tool of domestic law enforcement. 

  • Rather than supporting existing law enforcement efforts to make our communities safer, Trump is focused on using the military against “the enemy from within” and “radical left lunatics.”

Trump Is Weaponizing the Military for His Personal, Political Gain

  • Trump is once again using the military as a political weapon – not to protect the public, but to intimidate and provoke. Using the military as domestic law enforcement is a dangerous and unnecessary escalation that serves Trump, not the country. 

  • Diverting military assets and resources undermines military readiness and American safety. 

  • Our men and women in uniform deserve better than to be used as political props by Donald Trump. 

Trump’s National Guard Deployments Are a Costly Misuse of Our Military

  • A 60-day deployment of National Guard troops in Los Angeles reportedly cost about $134 million, while deployments in DC likely cost more than $1 million per day.

  • The Guard is trained for natural disasters and national security missions, not policing America’s streets. When troops are deployed to police cities, they aren’t available for crises where they’re needed most.

Trump’s Actions Are Fundamentally Un-American

  • Using the military as domestic law enforcement is fundamentally un-American. 

  • Deploying troops on U.S. streets undermines the democratic principles that define our nation and threatens the civil liberties every American deserves.

Trump’s Deployments Are Crises of His Own Making 

  • Local police forces are equipped to handle public safety in their own communities – if politicians in Washington would simply give them the resources they need. 

  • Instead, Trump and his cronies cut $1 billion from D.C.’s budget – including tens of millions of dollars for the Metropolitan Police Department – along with millions more from terrorism prevention and research programs designed to curb gun violence and hate crimes. 

  • On top of that, Republican leaders have threatened to strip funding from Democratic-led cities for political gain, undermining the very resources local officials rely on to fight crime. 

  • By weakening police budgets and then sending in federal troops, Trump and his allies are manufacturing a crisis to justify military-style interventions that increase federal control and weaken his political enemies.

This Is A Cynical, Calculated Distraction

  • This isn’t public safety policy – it’s political theater. Trump is using these deployments to distract from damaging headlines and self-inflicted crises. 

  • He wants to shift the national conversation to where he thinks he has a political advantage because the American people know he has failed to lower costs and improve livelihoods.

Published: September 2025

Updated: December 2025