WASHINGTON — President Donald J. Trump stood before more than 800 military commanders today in Quantico, Virginia and declared the “era of the Department of Defense is over,” renaming it the “Department of War” and laying out a vision that extends the reach of America’s armed Troops far beyond foreign battlefields.
The president’s speech was not confined to deterring overseas adversaries. Instead, he spoke of turning U.S. cities into “training grounds,” called for harsher responses to civilians, and described some individuals as “born criminals.” His rhetoric signaled a fundamental reshaping of the military’s role at home, raising alarms among democracy advocates and echoing past moments when state power was turned inward against marginalized communities.
Trump claimed credit for improving recruitment numbers across every branch of the military, boasting that enlistment targets had been surpassed for the first time in a generation. Yet woven through the statistics was a vision of militarism that blurred the line between defense and domestic enforcement.
Cities cast as battlefields
In his remarks, Trump described Chicago, Portland, and Washington, D.C. as “war zones,” presenting them as prime sites for military involvement. He boasted that federal forces had “taken out 1,700 career criminals” in D.C. and suggested that kind of action could be repeated elsewhere.
“Welcome to the War Department,” Trump told the audience. “We should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military.”
Such language reframes neighborhoods as theaters of combat, not communities of families, students, and workers. Moreover, it evoked memories of militarized police in Ferguson and other cities. Armored vehicles rolled down residential streets. Officers met protesters with tear gas and rubber bullets.
“They spit, we hit”
Trump also announced what he described as a new doctrine for responding to civilians who confront law enforcement or soldiers.
“They spit, we hit,” he said. “Get out of that car and do whatever the hell you want to do.”
The line drew applause from some in the audience but raised immediate concerns among civil rights advocates who say such rhetoric undermines constitutional protections. By encouraging troops and officers to retaliate without restraint, the president appeared to erase long-standing limits on use of force.
Declaring people “born criminals”
Perhaps most controversial was Trump’s characterization of some individuals as irredeemable.
“They’re career criminals… maybe they were born that way,” he said.
The language echoed the discredited “super-predator” myth of the 1990s, which disproportionately targeted Black youth and fueled mass incarceration.
Historical echoes for Black America
For Black communities, today’s speech carried a haunting familiarity. The FBI’s COINTELPRO program once labeled civil rights leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as threats to national security. More recently, heavily armed police confronted demonstrators in Ferguson after the killing of Michael Brown. Each moment reflected a pattern: when America expands its definition of “enemy,” Black communities are often the first to feel the impact.
In Tulsa, the 1921 Race Massacre remains the clearest reminder of government power turned inward. Planes bombed Greenwood from the sky. Gunmen killed residents in the streets. Law enforcement stood shoulder-to-shoulder with white mobs. Trump’s suggestion that the military treat American cities as combat zones and their residents as combatants taps into that same dangerous logic.
“We don’t yet know the full impact this decision will have on D.C. and the Black and minority communities Trump has suggested he may target next,” said the Congressional Black Caucus in a statement posted on X, “we do know this: militarized over-policing will inevitably lead to increased fear and mistrust among communities that have too often been treated as occupied populations, rather than as citizens who deserve to be served and protected.”
From defense to war
The renaming of the Pentagon from the “Department of Defense” to the “Department of War” was more than symbolic. Trump tied the change to a record-setting $1 trillion military budget proposal for 2026, promising new weapons systems, ships, and aircraft. But his repeated emphasis on domestic operations suggested he may deploy those resources in American streets as readily as overseas.
The deployment of federal forces, including National Guard troops and military personnel, into American cities has introduced a profound and unsettling new dynamic to domestic law enforcement. Beyond the stated goals of quelling protests, addressing crime, or enforcing immigration policy, the president has explicitly framed these Democrat-led cities as potential “training grounds” for the military—a proposition that alarms civil liberties advocates, constitutional scholars, and local leaders alike.
This approach risks eroding the foundational American principle, enshrined in the Posse Comitatus Act, which strictly limits the use of the military for civilian law enforcement.
Senators call out Hegseth’s speech
In addition to Trump’s remarks, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used his address to launch attacks on diversity initiatives, LGBTQ service members, and physical standards. He derided decades of military leaders for issuing “DEI and LGBTQI+ statements,” calling such policies “toxic ideological garbage.”
Hegseth mocked gender identity, saying leaders had been forced to pretend that “males who think they’re females” was “totally normal.” He also disparaged overweight troops and commanders, declaring it “tiring to look out at combat formations and see fat troops” and ordering strict enforcement of weight and fitness tests.
Senator Tammy Duckworth (D), who sits on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, was quick to call out the rhetoric from Pete Hegseth.
The former combat veteran and Black Hawk helicopter pilot said, “If this deeply degrading, wasteful and dangerous stunt proved anything, it’s that the best thing Hegseth can do to strengthen our military is resign in disgrace. Immediately.”
The secretary portrayed his reforms as an end to what he called the “era of unprofessional appearances,” promising a return to uniform, “gender-neutral, and high” standards—even if that excluded women from serving.
Senator Chris Coons (D) of Delaware said, “Secretary Hegseth and Trump pulled in hundreds of military leaders from front lines around the world and put them in a room so he can lecture them about ‘toxic leadership’ and grooming standards. We need a Defense Secretary focused on fighting real wars instead of culture wars.”
What’s next
Trump has repeatedly pointed to Chicago as a prime target, calling it one of America’s most “dangerous cities” and suggesting it should serve as a training ground for the military. That prospect has alarmed Illinois officials, who say deploying federal troops would deepen tensions rather than improve safety.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker warned a DHS request for 100 troops to protect ICE facilities would not make the state safer: “None of what Trump is doing is making Illinois safer … this is an attack on neighborhoods, on lawful residents, on U.S. citizens.”
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson called Trump’s threats a constitutional overreach: “The President’s threats are beneath the honor of our nation. He wants to occupy our city and break our Constitution.”
For now, Trump’s words stand on their own and as a vision where dissent becomes disorder, where cities are battlefields, and where the military acts not as a shield against foreign enemies but as a hammer against Americans at Trump’s behest.
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