President Donald Trump told U.S. troops in Japan that he was prepared to send “more than the National Guard” into American cities as he ramped up his rhetoric on cracking down on crime and immigration.
Speaking from aboard the USS George Washington in Yokosuka on Tuesday, the president doubled down on his vision of using the military for domestic purposes as he gave a rambling speech to personnel stationed overseas.
Trump claimed that “people don’t care if we send in our military, if we send in our National Guard, if we send in Space Command.”
“They don’t care who the hell it is. They just want to be safe,” the president argued.
While suggesting that the Trump administration needs “a little more help” from state officials, he then countered that their support “doesn’t matter, really.”
“We can do as we want to do,” Trump insisted.
He continued that “we have cities that are troubled.”
“And we’re sending in our National Guard, and if we need more than the National Guard, we’ll send more than the National Guard, because we’re going to have safe cities,” Trump said.
“We’re not going to have people killed in our cities. And whether people like that or not, that’s what we’re doing,” he added. (Watch video of the speech below).
His remarks echoed comments last month when he told U.S. generals and admirals they were fighting “a war from within.”
Since returning to power, Trump has deployed the National Guard to big cities including Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Chicago.
Despite Trump suggesting the public is enthusiastic about an increased military presence domestically, polling suggests most Americans are opposed to troops being deployed unless there is an external threat.
Trump’s deployments have often been opposed by Democratic governors of the states where troops are being sent, leading to successful challenges in court.
Trump’s authoritarianism has relied on a law that allows the president to deploy the military, or federalize National Guard troops, to suppress a rebellion or if he is “unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.”