Messaging Guidance:

Donald Trump’s Politicization of the Military

 

President Trump took extraordinary action by calling up 2,000 National Guard troops to quell immigration protests in California, making rare use of federal powers and bypassing the authority of the state’s governor. It is the first time since 1965 that a president has activated a state’s National Guard force without a request from that state’s governor – when President Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops to Alabama to protect civil rights demonstrators. 

This is clearly a fight that the Trump Administration is eager to have. However, we cannot allow Trump’s unprecedented overreach to go unchallenged. When discussing this topic publicly, it’s important to highlight how Trump’s actions are escalating tensions and politicizing the military in a truly unprecedented manner.

Topline Messaging:

  • Donald Trump’s mobilization of the National Guard is an extreme, dangerous, and unnecessary escalation designed not to keep the peace – but to inflame tensions, sow chaos, and escalate the situation. This isn’t about keeping our communities safe. It’s about sending a message. 

  • State and local police in California are actively engaged and have the resources and manpower to keep the peace, enforce the law, and hold lawbreakers accountable. They have not requested federal support, nor have elected officials in California. 

  • For the first time in sixty years, Donald Trump is deploying the United States military to a state over the objections of the state’s governor. And he’s doing it for purely political purposes.

  • The United States military has a vital role to play in keeping our nation safe from foreign adversaries. That role does not include enforcing a president’s political agenda.  

  • This isn’t the first time Donald Trump has tried to use the military to suppress political speech that he disagreed with. But, unfortunately, it’s the first time that there hasn’t been an adult in the room to stop him. 

  • And this is just the beginning. Trump’s order is not limited to California – but applies nationwide – allowing his administration to mobilize the military to suppress political protests across the country, at any time they see fit. 

  • Our service members, and the American people, deserve better than this.

Published: June 2025