Sen. Tammy Duckworth Blasts Trump For Undermining The Military And National Security

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) said that Trump is misusing the military and undermining American national security with his domestic National Guard deployments.

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Trump has telegraphed for roughly forever that he was going to send National Guard troops to Chicago. The problem is that Trump and red state governors are having to seriously scrounge to find enough troops to send anywhere.

What has been lost in the conversation about what Trump is doing is that while he is claiming to fight crime, the president is, according to experts like Sen. Tammy Duckworth, weakening the military and national security.

Sen. Duckworth said in a statement:

It comes as no surprise Donald Trump is once again attacking Chicago, but that doesn’t change that Trump’s continuing pattern of politicizing and misusing our nation’s military for his own partisan gain and to crush dissent is deeply disturbing, is un-American and has no place in any of our cities.

We know this isn’t about ‘law and order’ because Trump is once again refusing to coordinate with state and local officials. And if he really cared about ‘health and safety,’ he wouldn’t have cut millions of dollars in gun violence prevention funding just weeks ago. This is just another attempt to distract the American people from the price increases his own policies are causing and the various personal scandals he wants to change the subject from.

Forcing the military, uninvited, into Chicago to intimidate Americans in their own communities does not make our nation stronger, it simply distracts the military from executing its core mission of keeping Americans safe from real adversaries who wish us harm.

It’s yet another unwarranted, unwanted and unjust move straight out of the authoritarian’s playbook that will only undermine our military’s readiness and ultimately weaken our national security.

The real enemies that want to harm Americans aren’t roaming the streets of America’s cities; they are in countries around the world.

The Trump administration has attacked and dismantled much of the national security apparatus and is instead engaging in empty show gestures in American cities so that Donald Trump can “look strong.”

Sen. Duckworth is correct. The nation’s military should be protecting Americans. The military should not be used as a tool to intimidate the American people.

The best way to keep the United States strong is to make sure that the military’s attention is focused on those who want to harm the country.

What do you think about Sen. Duckworth’s statement? Share your thoughts in the comments below.