Trump’s 'shock troops': Behind the former Navy SEALs propelling the 'MAGA revolution'

10 March

Back in 1962, when John F. Kennedy was president, an elite group of military outfits known as the U.S. Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams was established. The roots of the Navy SEALs can be traced back to World War 2, but they were formally established under JFK's watch. And along the way, SEALs became known for taking on difficult, challenging operations.

On May 1, 2011, for example, Navy SEALs on orders from then-President Barack Obama successfully infiltrated an al-Qaeda compound in Pakistan and killed terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.

In 2025, former U.S. Navy SEALs have an increased presence on Capitol Hill — where, according to Politico's Ian Ward, they are serving as President Donald Trump's political "shock troops."

Ward, in an article published on March 10, explains, "Since their founding in the early 1960s, the Navy SEALs have made their presence felt in every corner of the globe, executing some of the most dangerous and celebrated missions in U.S. military history. But now…. the elite unit has infiltrated a different kind of hostile territory: Congress. When the 119th Congress was gaveled into session in January, (Rep. Ryan) Zinke counted six former SEALs as his colleagues, the most ever: Reps. Eli Crane of Arizona, Morgan Luttrell and Dan Crenshaw of Texas, Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin, John McGuire of Virginia and freshman Sen. Tim Sheehy of Montana."

Ward adds, "All are Republicans who have aligned themselves, in varying fashions, with Donald Trump and the MAGA movement."

According to Ward, the influence of these former Navy SEALs who now serve in Congress has been "quiet but significant" — and their approach is much different from GOP military veterans of the past.

"In the second half of the 20th Century," Ward notes, "the generation of Republican lawmakers who entered politics after serving in World War 2, Korea and Vietnam helped define a style of consensus-based conservatism that flourished until the Republican Revolution of the 1990s. By contrast, the current generation of ex-SEALs, who mostly came of fighting age during the Gulf War and the war on terror, have eagerly embraced a more combative style of politics — one that favors partisan warfare, legislative brinksmanship, and an open embrace of Trump."

Ward continues, "This style takes its cues in part from the MAGA movement more broadly, but it draws on the combativeness at the heart of what several of the members called the SEALs' 'warrior mentality': the sense the SEALs will do whatever it takes — short of opposing Trump outright — to achieve their objective, even if it means bucking Republican leadership or breaking congressional norms. This background, several of the former SEALs told me, has made them particularly effective proponents of the new style of Republican politics ushered in by the Trump revolution. As the MAGA revolution has remade Washington in its own image, the former Navy SEALs have dutifully served as its shock troops on Capitol Hill."

Read the full Politico article at this link.

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