Former President Donald Trump is on the hot seat with the establishment media -- again. It seems he has focused in on the national security threat of an “enemy from within” the US borders, suggesting that some people in positions of authority in government, universities, and other institutions whose worldview is inimical to what Americans have fought and died to preserve are working against the best interests of the United States.
Trump Criticized for Views on Using the Military
Enemies from within is not a new concept. Americans were treated to scenes of pro-Hamas and anti-Jewish violent mobs last spring that continue today. These riots were spawned in Eastern universities and rapidly spread to the nation's capital. Though the freedom to speak one's mind is a sacred right, defacing and destroying public property is not. However, these acts against America's institutions, though egregious and perpetrated by enemies of civil order, are not what Trump was pilloried for identifying.
No, the 45th president was criticized for suggesting the US National Guard and active-duty military should be used to stop the flow of illegal aliens streaming across the US southern border as a result of Biden-Harris administration policy. "He has pledged to recall thousands of American troops from overseas and station them at the US border with Mexico. He has explored using troops for domestic policy priorities such as deportations and confronting civil unrest," the Associated Press reported. But is it testing "the limits on using the military at home," as the AP put it?
The military has been used six times when the security of American citizens was threatened. Employing federal troops during civil unrest and domestic violence is part of the fabric of the US legal legacy nearly as old as the country itself, dating back to the Insurrection Act of 1807 and the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. These laws establish how and where military forces can be used within the homeland. "When it comes to curbing civil unrest, the military has been called out on multiple occasions -- and it wasn't just the National Guard, either," Military.com said. For Trump to suggest using the military in defense of US sovereign borders and against violence in the streets is not unprecedented.
However, the genesis of the latest uproar was a question put to Trump by Maria Bartiromo during an interview on Fox News. "How are you going to guard against the bureaucrats undermining you?" Bartiromo asked Trump. The former president answered that there are two types of enemies: Those outside, like Russia and China, and then there are the inside enemies. Trump said that external foes are easier to deal with - and that inside enemies are more dangerous than China or Russia. "The thing that's tougher to handle are these lunatics we have inside like Adam Schiff, 'shifty' Schiff … I call him the enemy from within. When you look at the danger he put the country in potentially with Russia, with a phony made-up deal," Trump said. However, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) has more to account for on the debt side of the integrity ledger.
Remember, Schiff vigorously criticized then-President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence for having been briefed on an American intelligence report that Russians had offered a bounty to the Taliban for killing US and coalition forces in Afghanistan. Schiff decried the president and vice president for not informing anyone of this threat. "The only problem is that the White House press secretary responded that both President Trump and VP Pence deny having ever been briefed. Furthermore, those from the intelligence community who would have done the briefing said they did not brief either of them," Liberty Nation News reported. After days of slinging invective at the Trump administration, it was confirmed that Trump and Pence had not been briefed. "But guess who was briefed, told no one, and did nothing? And the answer is, drum roll, please … Representative Adam Schiff," LNN revealed.
Greatest Scandal in Broadcast History
Trump explained to Bartiromo that the "single greatest scandal, in my opinion, in broadcast history" occurred recently. The former president described the CBS 60 Minutes interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. In a deceptively edited version of the sit-down, the network took out the VP's incomprehensible response to one question and substituted another answer to an unrelated question that sounded more cogent.
Trump is making a critical point. Whether you like CBS or not, it is a network news source upon which many depend for their information. CBS represents the press, an institution the Constitution protects explicitly. One of the first attacks an effective enemy can make is to destroy the people's confidence in their news sources. It is more than just propping up a lackluster presidential candidate. Liberty Nation News explained, "Unfortunately, little coming from inside the beltway would reveal the problems, gaffes, and missteps since the left-leaning fourth estate has become the vocal fifth-column apologists for the White House foreign policy and national security team's failings."
When it comes to Trump's inclination to utilize the military domestically, The Wall Street Journal zeroed in on an answer given in the Bartiromo interview when the former US chief executive was asked if he expects chaos and violence on Nov. 5. Trump replied, "Not from the side that votes for Trump … It should be very easily handled, if necessary, by the National Guard, or, if really necessary, by the military, because they can't let that happen." Note the caveat “if necessary.”
Whether from Antifa, Hamas supporters, or anti-American violence of any stripe, using the military to bring order is not, as AP suggested, testing limits. Nor is it an unprecedented idea.
The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliate.
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