The deployment of the National Guard in Washington under false pretexts, a few weeks after the withdrawal of soldiers in the streets of Los Angeles, raises fears that Donald Trump will multiply the appeal to the army for supporters. Could it evoke a national emergency in order to militarize all of the United States?
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On Monday morning, Donald Trump said that violent crime is so “out of control” in the American capital that “young thugs” and “gang members” no longer hesitate to orchestrate random and free attacks against honest citizens.
National Guard soldiers deployed in Washington.
Getty Images via AFP
It was therefore to “liberate” the population of Washington, he says, that he decided to deploy the soldiers of the National Guard.
The statistics of the local and federal police, however, demonstrate that violent crime, although very present in the federal capital, has been at its lowest for 30 years.
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Avant Washington, Los Angeles
Donald Trump had used similar rhetoric during the deployment of soldiers in Los Angeles in June, while demonstrations against expulsion of migrants – commanded by his administration – shook the Californian metropolis.
The clashes between demonstrators and the police were, according to him, proof that the city was facing “a foreign invasion”.
Marines during a pacifist demonstration in Los Angeles in June 2025.
Mega/if
These two events illustrate a new disturbing trend in the way of governing the Republican president, the professor said at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ottawa, Joao Velloso.
“Donald Trump no longer hesitates to use legal black holes, therefore obscure laws and little used regulations, to supervise any situation he deems urgent. It limits the powers of the court and it allows him to impose his will by avoiding the legislative process, ”he analyzes.
Towards the use of the army nationwide?
The other worrying aspect of the measures taken in Washington is that Donald Trump spoke of social problems, including homelessness, in order to credibility that the city was abandoned by the local government.
It could thus be tempted to renew the deployment beyond the scheduled period of 30 days.
“It has never been done, but he could quite try to do so in order to test the limits of what he can do,” predicts the professor.
If the president came to his ends in the capital, he could then evoke other national emergencies, such as border problems, in order to send the army throughout to the United States, he fears.
“He could completely deploy the army to manage the nationwide opioid crisis. There are certainly people who suggested him around him, “said Joao Velloso, while adding that such an initiative would be difficult to set up.
In doing so, Donald Trump would orchestrate an unprecedented concentration of powers within the United States government, taking one more step towards authoritarianism.
“Will he talk about other emergency measures to bypass political and legal constraints related to projects that would personally serve him?” Possible, because it aims for a total control of power, ”says Velloso.
