Axar.az presents an article, "The Enemy From Within” by John Samuel Tieman.

The Commander-in-Chief, Donald Trump, stood before hundreds of the nation’s top military officers and enlisted personnel. He spoke of “the enemy from within”. He said we should use our cities “as training grounds for our military.” The military audience gave occasional polite applause.

As I write, our nation's capital, as well as the cities of Memphis, Portland and Los Angeles, all have varying degrees of National Guard presence. The presence is not requested by local authorities. Other cities that have been threatened are Chicago, Baltimore, New Orleans, San Francisco, and my hometown, St. Louis. The targets seem to be chosen because they are controlled by Democrats. The president has not bothered to give much justification for militarizing “Democrat cities” [sic] largely because there is no justification in law.

I hate it when the president salutes. Why? Because he's not a soldier. It is not unusual to see King Charles in a military uniform. Our president wears a suit. He is a constitutional officer, not a military one. It's a small symbol, saluting. But symbols are important. The Commander-In-Chief is addressed as “Mr. President.” That symbolizes that the military is answerable to civilian authority. And that civilian authority is derived from the Constitution and the norms of the democratic republic. Our military is controlled by a civilian. This much power comes with certain norms and restraints.

In the broadest sense, military power is used externally. ”The Posse Comitatus Act” prevents the president from deploying the military against his own people. There are exceptions. The president can deploy the military in circumstances wherein local authority is overwhelmed – a flood, a widespread riot, an insurrection. Such circumstances are extraordinary.

Soldiers in the United Kingdom swear “allegiance to His Majesty King Charles.” American soldiers swear to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States.” It's not a subtle distinction. Nor is the Constitution, and black-letter law, vague on the matter. In 1794, George Washington used troops to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion led by Pennsylvania farmers. In 1863, to suppress the Draft Riots in New York City, Abraham Lincoln sent in troops. When Pres. Donald Trump sent troops to Los Angeles to suppress a small group of folks protesting immigration raids, this was an astonishing violation of the Constitution's guarantee of free speech, among other violations. Trump sent troops to Washington, D. C., to combat crime, he says. In D. C., there has been a 22% drop in violent crime.

We make a clear distinction between the role of the police and the role of the military. We make a distinction between federal authority and state rights. Fortunately, as I write, U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut ruled that, with regard to deploying the Guard in Portland, Donald Trump is infringing upon Oregon's state sovereignty and its police powers by federalizing the Guard over the objections of that state's governor. “This historical tradition boils down to a simple proposition: This is a nation of constitutional law, not martial law.” However, hers is a temporary restraining order, which no doubt the president will challenge.

Our president is famously ignorant of history. So let's just ask. Deploying the National Guard – what could possibly go wrong? I vividly remember the Kent State massacre. On the 4th of May, 1970, the Ohio National Guard fired on students protesting the Cambodian Invasion. Four Dead. Nine wounded.

When did we start talking about “enemies from within”? To Donald Trump's credit, he is consistent on this issue. Pres. Trump suggested using the military to handle what he called “the enemy from within” on Election Day, saying that he isn’t worried about chaos from his supporters or foreign actors. He's worried about “radical left lunatics.” “I think the bigger problem are the people from within. We have some very bad people. We have some sick people. Radical left lunatics,” Trump told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo in an interview on “Sunday Morning Futures.” He added, “I think it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military, because they can’t let that happen.” What could possibly go wrong?