This isn’t a partisan warning. It’s not media spin. It’s not speculation from political opponents. It’s coming straight from the U.S. military’s top brass—men who served at the highest levels of command under Donald Trump himself. And they’re all saying the same thing: he’s pushing to use the military against Americans. Again.
This week, Trump took another dangerous step by federalizing the D.C. Metropolitan Police and deploying the National Guard to the capital. He did it without a request from local officials. Sound familiar? It should. We’ve seen this move before—June 2020, Lafayette Square. Peaceful protesters cleared by force so Trump could pose with a Bible. The military was part of that stunt. And many who were involved say they regret it.
“Militarizing our response… sets up a conflict — a false conflict — between the military and civilian society,” former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said after Lafayette Square. It was an extraordinary rebuke, especially coming from a man known for staying out of politics. Mattis warned that using soldiers against U.S. citizens “erodes the moral ground” that holds this country together.
This isn’t just about one incident. It’s about a pattern. According to Trump’s own former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Trump once asked why protesters couldn’t be shot. “Can’t you just shoot them in the legs or something?” Trump reportedly said during the 2020 unrest. That’s not leadership. That’s lawlessness.
Esper said his job that summer became about “blunting or redirecting any efforts that could politicize the military.” Think about that. The Secretary of Defense wasn’t just managing the Pentagon—he was trying to prevent the president from turning U.S. troops into political enforcers.
And Esper wasn’t alone. General Mark Milley, Trump’s top military advisor, reportedly feared that Trump would attempt a coup after the 2020 election. He saw the lies about voter fraud, the violent rhetoric, the buildup of chaos. And he recognized the pattern.
“This is a Reichstag moment,” Milley told aides, referencing the event Nazis used to justify a power grab in 1933. That’s not a casual comparison. It’s a warning from a man who’s seen what unchecked power can do.
Former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said Trump had to be told over and over again why the military should not be used on American soil. But Trump wouldn’t let it go. “I think this issue of using the military… is one of those things I think is a very, very bad thing — even to say it for political purposes to get elected,” Kelly said.
He didn’t stop there. The former general and chief of staff to the President of the United States said Donald Trump meets the definition of a fascist.
So when Trump calls in the National Guard to D.C. without being asked, when he talks openly about using the military in American cities, when he floats these ideas again and again—believe him. He’s testing the limits. And so far, those limits are weakening.
This isn’t about optics. It’s about power. The real kind. The kind that crushes protest, silences dissent, and blurs the line between democracy and dictatorship.
It’s happened before—in other countries, under other strongmen. And when it starts, the military is always the tool.
But in America, generals are speaking up before it’s too late. They’re warning us.
The question now is: Will anyone listen?
Because Trump is moving again. And the men who know him best are saying this is exactly what they feared.