Trump’s army?

It is a truism that authoritarian regimes stand or fall on the loyalty of the security forces, and U.S. President Donald Trump has left little to chance since returning to the White House. His defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, immediately purged a half-dozen top generals, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and in early May ordered a 20% reduction in the number of four-star generals and a 10% cut in lower-ranking generals.

But it was a speech to troops a month later, at a base named after a Confederate general, that revealed most clearly Trump’s conception of national security and the role of the armed forces in ensuring it. He made no mention of the world today, addressed no common American interest that might necessitate national defense, and expressed no concern about threats from China or the Russian invasion of Ukraine. And whereas U.S. presidents typically speak of individual heroism as evidence of a country worthy of defending, Trump said nothing about cherished Constitutional rights such as freedom of expression and assembly, and not a word about democracy. America did not exist in Trump’s speech.

Instead, Trump used U.S. military history to advance a cult to himself. Great battlefield achievements became deeds performed for the pleasure of a leader, who then invokes them to justify his own permanent power. Military glory becomes a spectacle into which the leader can inject any meaning.

That is the fascist principle that Trump understands. All politics is struggle, and he who can define the enemy can stay in power. But whereas historical fascists had an enemy without and an enemy within, Trump only has an enemy within. That is why, immediately after joining Israel’s attacks on Iran, he hastily declared victory — and a cease-fire. The world is too much for him. The army is just for dominating Americans.

The enemy was identified in Trump’s comparison of Americans seizing undocumented migrants in 2025 with the courage previous generations demonstrated fighting in the Revolutionary War, the two world wars, Korea, or Vietnam. Charging a trench or jumping from a plane is of course very different from ganging up on a graduate student or bullying a middle-aged seamstress. But here we see Trump’s purpose: preparing American soldiers to view themselves as heroes when they participate in domestic operations against unarmed people, including US citizens.

In his speech, Trump portrayed himself as more than a president. He repeatedly mocked his predecessor (“You think this crowd would have showed up for Biden?”), summoning soldiers to defy the fundamental idea that their service is to the Constitution, not to a person. Such unprecedented personalization of the presidency suggests that Trump’s authority rests on something besides an election, something like individual charisma, or even divine right. Soldiers should follow Trump because he is Trump.

Most Americans imagine that the U.S. Army is here to defend us, not to attack us. But Trump used the occasion to goad soldiers into heckling their fellow Americans, to join him in taunting journalists, a critical check on tyranny who, like protesters, are protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution. Trump was teaching soldiers that society does not matter, and that law does not matter. Only he matters, and he “loves” soldiers so much, “We’re giving you an across-the-board raise.” This is the way a dictator speaks to a palace guard or a paramilitary.

We are witnessing an attempt at regime change, rife with perversities. It has a historical component: We are to celebrate the Confederate traitors like Robert E. Lee, who rebelled against the U.S. in defense of slavery. It has a fascist component: We are to embrace the present moment as an exception, in which all things are permitted to the leader. And of course it has an institutional component: Soldiers are meant to be the avant-garde of democracy’s demise, whose job is to oppress the leader’s chosen enemies — inside the U.S.

Describing migration as an “invasion,” as Trump did in his speech, is meant to blur the distinction between his administration’s immigration policy and a foreign war. But it is also meant to transform the mission of the U.S. Army. If soldiers and others are willing to believe that migration is an “invasion,” they will see those who disagree as enemies. And this is exactly what Trump sought to achieve when he portrayed elected officials in California as collaborators in “an occupation… by criminal invaders.”

The U.S. military, like other American institutions, includes people of various backgrounds. It depends heavily on African-Americans and non-citizens. Trying to transform it into a cult of the Confederacy and a tool to persecute migrants would cause great friction and gravely damage its reputation, especially if U.S. soldiers kill U.S. civilians. (There is also the risk that provocateurs, including foreign ones, try to kill a U.S. soldier.)

Trump would welcome and exploit such situations. He wants to turn everything around. He wants an army that is a personal paramilitary. He wants the shame of our national history to become our pride. He wants to transform a republic into a fascist regime in which his will is law.

But what do U.S. soldiers want? Trump’s speech was a highly curated affair, with audience members selected on the basis of their political views and physical appearance. Four days later, however, the military parade Trump staged in Washington — honoring the Army’s 250th anniversary and his own birthday — was widely described as a “flop,” in which some 6,600 soldiers in combat fatigues walked, not marched, past a sparse crowd. As spectacles of military glory go, Pyongyang or Red Square it was not.

I wasn’t there. Like at least four million other people in the U.S. that day, I was at one of the anti-Trump “No Kings” rallies held in some 2,100 cities and towns across the country. It was the largest single-day political protest in U.S. history, dwarfing attendance at Trump’s parade and proving that a democracy exists only if a people exists, and a people exists only in individuals’ awareness of one another and of their need to act together. This awareness is Trump’s worst enemy.

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