White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt snapped when asked if President Donald Trump was setting the stage for “long-term” military deployments to some of America’s biggest cities.
As Trump’s plans to send National Guard troops to Chicago and Portland, Oregon, hang in legal limbo, Leavitt told reporters it was ridiculous for Democrats to be worried that the president could be looking to permanently install troops in Democrat-led cities.
“Why should they be concerned about the federal government offering help to make their cities a safer place?” she fumed. “They should be concerned about ... the fact that people in their cities, right now, are being gunned down every single night, and the president, all he’s trying to do is fix it.”
Leavitt continued, “You guys are framing this like the president wants to take over American cities with the military. The president wants to help these local leaders who have been completely ineffective in securing their own cities.”
While Leavitt called the idea of a domestic U.S. military occupation rubbish, Democratic leaders are worried Trump’s moves are signaling the start of exactly that.
