At a strange event in Quantico where Trump spoke in front of 800 generals, admirals, and top military leaders, the former president suggested using American communities as places to train soldiers — which would mean preparing troops to use weapons on other Americans.
With a serious look, Trump said, “We should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military.”
He said the U.S. is facing an “invasion from within,” just like a foreign enemy, and named San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles as examples. Then he added something really scary: “We’re going to fix them one by one. And this will be a big part of what some of the people in this room are doing.”
On the Daily Beast podcast, retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling — who spent many years leading soldiers and commanded U.S. Army Europe — heard everything.
His warning is clear: Trump’s idea isn’t just crazy. It’s against the law, illegal, and a danger to the country.
“Using the military in policing activities goes against the Constitution and the laws, so it shouldn’t happen,” Hertling said.
“What I heard the president say yesterday was an implied message that he was telling everyone in that room to be ready for that. And that only happens once an insurrection happens, like during the Civil War.”
Think about that.
A respected general is saying that Trump is preparing the military to act like an occupying force in American cities — something our democracy has avoided for 250 years.
Hertling explains why this is so dangerous.
Soldiers are trained for fighting, not for police work. “Soldiers don’t get any training on police activities except for those who are military police. So you’re putting an infantryman, a tanker, a truck driver in front of American people. That would be like saying you and I could go out and arrest people and stop riots and do all those things.”
In his words, the military is the “last option” for any domestic crisis — “mainly because they’re not trained to do things like that.
And secondly, because it’s against the law.”
That last part says it all: it’s illegal.
Trump isn’t just daydreaming about a new role for the military. He’s flirting with illegal orders that could put military officers in a tough spot.
“Soldiers don’t get any training on police activities except for those who are military police,” Hertling added.
“So you’re putting an infantryman, a tanker, a truck driver in front of American people. That would be like saying you and I could go out and arrest people and stop riots and do all those things.”
According to Hertling, the officers know this.
“I know for sure that there are conversations inside the military about how to disobey an illegal order,” he revealed. But because of Trump’s allies on the Supreme Court, the president may be protected from being held accountable. That leaves the burden — and the risk of being punished — on the generals and admirals he is pushing. “With the recent Supreme Court ruling, which gives the president immunity from criminal acts, but the people he’s ordering to do these things are subject to those violations… how do you say no?” Hertling asked, pointing to the scary decision.
This isn’t just theory.
Hertling himself has stopped illegal orders before — and he got his bosses to change them. “In each case, my bosses said, yeah, you’re probably right. This is illegal. Let’s change the order.” That’s what real military leadership looks like. But under Trump, Hertling is worried that this chain of honesty will break.
Even America’s allies are worried.
Hertling says foreign commanders have been asking why the U.S. military is suddenly being criticized and used for politics. His answer is bleak: our enemies like it because it shows Trump’s chaotic plan is working.
Trump gave the country a glimpse of what a second term might look like: a leader who demands loyalty, encourages illegal orders, and hints at turning soldiers on other Americans.
Hertling’s conclusion is clear: it’s against the Constitution, illegal, and harmful to everything the U.S. military stands for.
This isn’t leadership.
It’s like a performance, a show that pretends to be military strategy. And as General Hertling is warning us: if we don’t stop Trump now, the next “war” he starts could be against ANY of us.
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