Trump calls for removing 'enemy from within'
Its the enemy from within and we have to handle it before it gets out of control, the president said. His remarks referred to criminals and immigrants who are in the country illegally.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-hegseth-generals-meeting-military-pentagon-0ecdcbb8877e24329cfa0fc1e851ebd2
President Donald Trump on Tuesday proposed using American cities as training grounds for the armed forces, with U.S. military might being deployed against what he described as the invasion from within.
Addressing an audience of military brass abruptly summoned to Virginia, Trump outlined a muscular and at times norm-shattering view of the militarys role in domestic affairs. He was joined by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who declared an end to woke culture and announced new directives for troops that include gender-neutral or male-level standards for physical fitness.
The dual messages underscored the Trump administrations efforts not only to reshape contemporary Pentagon culture but enlist military resources for the presidents priorities and in everyday American civic life, including by quelling unrest and violent crime on city streets.
We should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military, Trump said. He noted at another point: Were under invasion from within. No different than a foreign enemy but more difficult in many ways because they dont wear uniforms.
Hegseth called hundreds of military leaders and their top advisers from around the world to the Marine Corps base in Quantico without publicly revealing the reason. His address largely focused on his own long-used talking points that painted a picture of a military that has been hamstrung by woke policies, and he said military leaders should do the honorable thing and resign if they dont like his new approach.
Though meetings between military brass and civilian leaders are nothing new, this gathering had fueled intense speculation about its purpose given the haste with which it was called and the mystery surrounding it. The fact that admirals and generals from conflict zones were summoned for a lecture on race and gender in the military showed the extent to which the countrys culture wars have become a front-and-center agenda item for Hegseths Pentagon, even at a time of broad national security concerns across the globe.
Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the meeting an expensive, dangerous dereliction of leadership by the Trump administration.
Even more troubling was Mr. Hegseths ultimatum to Americas senior officers: conform to his political worldview or step aside, Reed said in a statement. That demand is profoundly dangerous. It signals that partisan loyalty matters more than capability, judgment, or service to the Constitution, undermining the principle of a professional, nonpartisan military.