During his first term as president, Donald Trump tested the limits of how he could use the military to achieve policy goals. If given a second term, the Republican and his allies are preparing to go much further, reimagining the military as an all-powerful tool to deploy on U.S. soil.
He has pledged to recall thousands of American troops from overseas and station them at the U.S. border with Mexico. He has explored using troops for domestic policy priorities such as deportations and confronting civil unrest. He has talked of weeding out military officers who are ideologically opposed to him.
Trumpās vision amounts to a potentially dramatic shift in the role of the military in U.S. society, carrying grave implications for both the countryās place in the world and the restraints that have traditionally been placed on domestic use of the military.
As Trumpās campaign heads into its final stretch against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, he is promising forceful action against immigrants who do not have permanent legal status. Speaking in Colorado on Friday, the Republican described the city of Aurora as a āwar zoneā controlled by Venezuelan gangs, even though authorities say that was a single block of the Denver suburb, and the area is safe again.
āI will rescue Aurora and every town that has been invaded and conquered,ā Trump said at the rally. āWe will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail or kick them out of our country.ā
In an interview aired Sunday on Fox News Channel, Trump was asked about the potential of āoutside agitatorsā disrupting Election Day and he then pivoted to what he called āthe enemy from within.ā
The former president and his advisers are developing plans to shift the militaryās priorities and resources, even at a time when wars are raging in Europe and the Middle East. Trumpās top priority in his platform, known as Agenda 47, is to implement hardline measures at the U.S.-Mexico border by āmoving thousands of troops currently stationed overseasā to that border. He is also pledging to ādeclare warā on cartels and deploy the Navy in a blockade that would board and inspect ships for fentanyl.
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