U.S. President Donald Trump attends a ceremony marking the 24th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States at the Pentagon, in Washington D.C., U.S., September 11, 2025. REUTERSEvelyn Hockstein
According to memos reported in recent days, Trump and his military top brass have ordered the National Guard in every state to develop a “quick reaction force” of troops trained to deal with civil disturbances and riots that can be ready to deploy with just hours’ notice, in order to respond to violence from protesters.
The memos direct Guard units in all 50 states and U.S. territories to train a contingent of soldiers in a specialized course that includes the proper use of batons, body shields, stun guns and pepper spray. The memos give numbers for each state’s force that total more than 23,000 troops in all.
At the same time, Trump is drawing up plans to use the Insurrection Act to enable him to move quickly to suppress anything he interprets as a disturbance. Trump told reporters Wednesday that he has the authority to send U.S. military forces beyond the National Guard into U.S. cities, claiming not even the courts could stop him.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said he could send the “Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines,” and “anybody I wanted” into U.S. cities, and would do so “if I thought it was necessary.” Earlier last week he told U.S. troops at the Yokosuka naval base near Tokyo that he was prepared to send “more than the National Guard” into U.S. cities if needed.
Meanwhile, a number of Trump cabinet, sub-cabinet, and White House officials, have moved into military housing.
These are the latest indications of longer-term Trump administration plans to dispatch far more soldiers to U.S. streets.
But Trump cannot stop us. He cannot intimidate us. He cannot scare us. We will remain peaceful, non-violent, and civil. But we will not abide a dictator.
Robert Reich is a professor at Berkeley and was secretary of labor under Bill Clinton. You can find his writing at https://robertreich.substack.com/.