Trump Threatens Our Cities. The Presidential and Military Oaths Defend the Constitution and All Americans.
The President of the United States stood before Americans and said our cities should be used as training grounds for the military. And he was serious.
He looked into the camera and said our country is under invasion from within, that this invasion is more dangerous than any foreign threat because it has no uniforms. He was not joking. He meant it.
Here’s a video clip:
Those words crossed into territory no President should ever approach. I immediately shared my thoughts, feelings and concerns here.
Over the last 24 hours I’ve watched and listened to some of our elected leaders respond to Trump’s speech.
I didn’t see one Republican leader push back on anything Trump or Hegseth said.
Not a single one.
That worries me. It should worry you too.
At the same time, every major leader of the Democratic party immediately denounced these statements. No exceptions.
Look, I wish everyone stood together, as one country, to immediately put these two misguided individuals on notice that putting the military in our cities to train is never going to happen. Not on our watch. Not while we have a separation of powers.
But that didn’t happen. And you need to ask yourself why.
Here’s my take-a-way.
The generals and admirals know what time it is. They know their duties and responsibilities to country over party.
They know that the two men on that stage yesterday don’t represent the America our military leaders swore to defend. One is a 34-time convicted felon and five-time draft dodger. The other is a disgraced TV host accused of serious allegations including sexual assault, financial mismanagement at veteran nonprofits, alcohol abuse, and abusive behavior toward a spouse, many raised during his confirmation hearings.
The good news is that every leader who failed to denounce these statements exposed their priorities, and it is not the Constitution. When a President suggests militarizing American neighborhoods, the correct response is immediate, loud, and absolute.
Silence is complicity and we know who they are.
Trump swore an oath when he took office. He promised to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. The President’s oath is:
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
That is not a suggestion. It is not flexible. It is the promise that holds the presidency together.
Generals and admirals swore an oath too. They promised to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Their allegiance is not to a man. It is not to a political party. It is to the Constitution. It states:
“I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”
The difference between the President’s oath and the military officer’s oath goes straight to the core of why Trump’s “training grounds” comment is unconstitutional, un-American, and ultimately dangerous.
This distinction matters because when Trump talks about turning our cities into training grounds which we all know will eventually become battlefields, he is daring military leaders to forget who they serve. He is daring them to follow him instead of the Constitution.
The purpose of the military oath is to stop that from happening. A President who tells the military to practice war in the streets of America betrays his oath. A general who carries out that order betrays theirs.
General Mark Milley, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spent more than four decades serving this country at the highest levels of military leadership. He advised presidents, commanded soldiers in combat, and carried the weight of protecting our democracy on his shoulders. When he said, “We don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We take an oath to the Constitution,” he spoke from experience, from duty, and from a lifetime of defending the values that separate freedom from tyranny.
General Milley delivered those remarks at his retirement ceremony as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Though he did not name Trump explicitly, his choice of language and timing made clear to all that he was pushing back against the idea of Trump’s demand for personal loyalty over constitutional duty.
Yesterday and today’s silence by Republicans is a warning. It tells us how fragile our democracy is when loyalty to a man replaces loyalty to the Constitution. The Vice President should have stood up for all Americans. He didn’t.
The Speaker of the House should have promised that no soldier will ever be ordered to turn their sights on citizens. That reassurance never came.
Every Democrat I follow or listen to went straight to a microphone and condemned what Trump said. They did not soften their words. They made it clear that if Trump acted on a statement like this as a sitting President, it would be a direct violation of his oath to the Constitution and a breach of multiple laws.
What this moment demands from us is clarity. The Constitution is the line that separates freedom from tyranny. When Trump threatens that line, and he has over and over again, he shows us who he is.
When members of Trump’s administration and his supporters say nothing, they show us who they are. The only question left is whether the American people will remember all of this in November 2026 and show this administration, and the rest of the world, who we are.
Our kids and grandkids deserve better than this. They deserve leaders who treat the Constitution as sacred, not disposable. They deserve a democracy that works for them, not against them.
If we want a future rooted in freedom and equality, we must stand up now, speak out now, and vote as if the survival of democracy depends on it, because it does.
Mitch Jackson, Esq.
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I was off site working yesterday, and scanned the news later. Please share where you are finding Democrats coming to the microphones!!! How could I have missed that later in the day? The news organizations are not placing this news on top of their platforms!! I need to give credit where credit is due. Thank you for sharing and keeping up with their efforts! Even when driving yesterday and listening to PBS and NPR and no such information.