U.S. cities aren't meant to be military training grounds [View all]

President Donald Trump, while speaking to the nation’s generals and admirals on Tuesday, placed a distressing emphasis on deploying the military for domestic law enforcement. He referred to a “war from within,” a determination to crush “domestic” enemies who “don’t wear uniforms” and a desire to use dangerous cities “as training grounds for our military.”

Those comments followed remarks from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who touted his priority of making the fighting force of his newly rebranded War Department more lethal. That’s not a feature people typically look for in forces deployed in their communities.

America’s cities ought not to be training grounds for preparing troops for future conflicts. That’s not why soldiers serve. Defending the homeland is different from policing it.

Trump told the brass he was talking about “our inner cities” because “it’s a big part of war now.” With trademark hyperbole, he said his deployment of the National Guard to D.C. “solved” crime in the nation’s capital, which he claimed was more dangerous than Afghanistan. The president signaled that he would like to replicate this approach in San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. “This is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room,” he said.

https://wapo.st/3IsvlLc

Inner cities, where people of color live.