By John & Nisha WHITEHEAD
“The era of the Department of Defense is over… From this moment forward, the only mission of the newly restored Department of War is this: warfighting.” — Pete Hegseth
“America is under invasion from within… That’s a war, too. It’s a war from within… We should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military… it’s the enemy from within.”—President Donald Trump
Distractions are everywhere. Do not lose focus.
During Donald Trump’s tenure, the American police state perfected the craft of creating continuous diversions, endless noise, and unrelenting turmoil to keep attention from settling on any particular matter.
This is the essence of psychological operations: ensure the public remains reactive, bewildered, frightened, and submissive while authority tightens its grip.
The Trump administration labels “we the people” as threats from within.
In just one week, we faced endless headlines about government shutdowns, a presidential order targeting dissenters, threats to deploy the National Guard to states deemed adversaries, the military’s politicization, tariffs hurting consumers, and the blatant embrace of corruption and profiteering.
Amidst this, Pete Hegseth, the new Secretary of War, summoned top military leaders for an extravagant $6 million event that boiled down to little more than showboating, propaganda, and posturing.
With Hegseth leading the revamped Department of War and advocating for a renewed “warrior ethos,” the Trump administration is promoting aggression and unquestioning obedience instead of peacekeeping, integrity, and constitutional responsibility.
The renaming of the War Department and the warrior-ethos rally mark a significant alteration in how the Deep State—strengthened under Trump—perceives the military’s role, our government, and the citizenry.
This change demands our attention.
Reestablishing the Department of War sends a message to bureaucracy, military leaders, and the public that aggression, rather than defense, is now the guiding principle.
The Pentagon is no longer seen as a shield against external threats but as a mechanism to wage perpetual conflict within American borders: Democratic urban centers may be converted to military training zones; engagement rules will be relaxed to enhance “lethality”; and militarized police will gain authority to use deadly force against Americans.
This rhetoric champions aggression and occupation, not protection.
The Founding Fathers feared the presence of a standing army on domestic soil, having endured troops quartered in their communities. They understood the dangers of a government treating its own people like enemies.
Today, that fear has materialized.
Federal and state bodies have long obscured the division between soldiers and law enforcement—armored vehicles patrol neighborhoods, combat training occurs in towns, and laws permit indefinite detention without trial.
Step by step, a war mentality has been implanted domestically, transplanted from foreign battlefields.
Tanks in the streets, routine SWAT invasions, and citizens treated like foes rather than protected neighbors have predictable consequences: abuse, decaying freedoms, and erosion of constitutional values.
This is the reality we forecasted: every urban area a battleground, every demonstration a justification for military deployment, every individual a potential suspect.
Trump’s reckless proposal to use “dangerous cities” as military training grounds doesn’t merely echo this grim scenario—it seals it.
Under the guise of “war,” the government authorizes itself to view Americans as adversaries.
Leveraging presidential powers and taxpayer money, Trump attempts to co-opt the military with an over $1 trillion budget in 2026, aiming to align them with a dictator’s agenda by funding extravagant projects, employing enforcers with hefty bonuses, and building detention facilities.
Yet, this is exactly what the Founders warned against. They recognized that “the means of defense against foreign danger have been always the instruments of tyranny at home.”
Their caution resonates everywhere—except for the staunch supporters of an American police state: a permanent army threatens citizens with tyranny.
To prevent military dictatorship, the Founders entrusted control of armed forces to civilian leadership and a civilian commander-in-chief, choosing a republic governed by law—the U.S. Constitution.
But this principle seems lost on Trump, who appears eager to wield brute force and empower the military with unchecked lethal authority.
Having abandoned constitutional limits, Hegseth and Trump illustrate the dangers of power: corruption and absolute corruption absolutely.
Nonetheless, the current police state and its apparatus of repression were not born overnight.
In 2008, the U.S. Army War College released a report urging military preparedness for quelling civil disturbances domestically.
By 2009, DHS documents labeled right- and left-wing activists and veterans as extremists, recommending intense surveillance of these groups.
Today, NSPM-7, Trump’s national security memorandum, brands “anti-Christian,” “anti-capitalism,” or “anti-American” views as threats of domestic terrorism.
Additionally, the Pentagon’s training video, “Megacities: Urban Future, the Emerging Complexity,” prepared for Special Operations Command, contemplates employing armed forces to address future internal political and social challenges.
What this actually means is martial law under the guise of national security.
Welcome to Battlefield America.
Beware: the military’s envisioned future does not separate citizens by political affiliation. Instead, “we the people” become the state’s adversaries.
As I describe in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and its fictional companion The Erik Blair Diaries, we are already deemed enemies of the state.
For years, government warnings about domestic terrorism have justified surveillance and training law enforcement to equate dissent with extremism. This groundwork has come to fruition.
Until Trump, the government had not openly declared which groups qualify as domestic terrorists.
Now, “we the people” stand labeled enemy number one.
WC: 1078
Original article: www.rutherford.org
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