{"id":4002,"date":"2025-10-07T09:19:48","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T09:19:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/?p=4002"},"modified":"2025-10-07T09:19:48","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T09:19:48","slug":"the-sinister-reason-trump-is-itching-to-invoke-the-insurrection-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/?p=4002","title":{"rendered":"The Sinister Reason Trump Is Itching to Invoke the Insurrection Act"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-ft-photo is-style-default\">\n    <figcaption class=\"photo__figcaption\">\n      <span class=\"photo__caption\">Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Oct. 6, 2025.<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"photo__credit\">Photo: Aaron Schwartz\/CNP\/Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/span>    <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span class=\"has-underline\">President Donald Trump<\/span> teased a dangerous escalation on Monday afternoon, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/video\/us\/politics\/100000010442336\/trump-threatens-to-use-insurrection-act-to-deploy-national-guard.html\">threatening<\/a> to invoke the Insurrection Act to send military forces to U.S. cities, should pesky judges and state leaders continue to thwart his ambitions to assault and occupy blue states.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have an Insurrection Act for a reason,\u201d Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. \u201cIf I had to enact it, I\u2019d do it, if people were being killed and courts were holding us up, or governors or mayors were holding us up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- BLOCK(pullquote)[0](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22PULLQUOTE%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%22pull%22%3A%22right%22%7D) --><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"stylized pull-right\" data-shortcode-type=\"pullquote\" data-pull=\"right\"><p><!-- CONTENT(pullquote)[0] -->His comments make clear the shape of Trump\u2019s authoritarian plans to dispatch the military to American cities.<!-- END-CONTENT(pullquote)[0] --><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><!-- END-BLOCK(pullquote)[0] --><\/p>\n<p>Trump noted that he did not see an immediate need to invoke the federal law. His comments, though, make clear the shape of his authoritarian plans to dispatch the military to liberal American cities after a federal judge <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2025\/10\/05\/national-guard-oregon-california-rurling-00594606\">blocked <\/a>him from sending troops to Portland, Oregon.<\/p>\n<p>Like so many of the Trump regime\u2019s power grabs, the threat is both shocking and predictable.<\/p>\n<p><!-- BLOCK(cta)[0](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22CTA%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%7D) --><\/p>\n<p><!-- END-BLOCK(cta)[0] --><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-he-badly-wants-to-use-it\"><strong>He Badly Wants to Use It<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Trump\u2019s interest in the Insurrection Act is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/trump-floats-invoking-insurrection-act-rcna236030\">hardly new<\/a>. He toyed with invoking the law in his first term.<\/p>\n<p>He was itching to use it to send in the military to crush the 2020 George Floyd uprisings but<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2022\/05\/06\/mark-esper-trump-george-floyd-protests\/\"> faced opposition at the time<\/a> from then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper. No such problem for the president with loyalist goon Pete Hegseth in the so-called secretary of war position.<\/p>\n<p>And Trump allies <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2023\/08\/02\/trump-indictment-justice-department-jeffrey-clark\/\">called on the president<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2023\/06\/04\/stewart-rhodes-oath-keepers-prison-sentence-pardon\/\">invoke the law<\/a> to illegally hold onto power after the 2020 election. During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump vowed to use the Insurrection Act to suppress unrest and dissent.<\/p>\n<p><!-- BLOCK(promote-post)[0](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22PROMOTE_POST%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%22slug%22%3A%22chilling-dissent%22%2C%22crop%22%3A%22promo%22%7D) -->  <\/p>\n<aside class=\"promote-banner\">\n    <a class=\"promote-banner__link\" href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/collections\/chilling-dissent\/\"><br \/>\n              <span class=\"promote-banner__image\"><br \/>\n          <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?fit=300%2C150\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=300 300w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=768 768w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=540 540w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=1000 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\"\/>        <\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"promote-banner__text\">\n<p class=\"promote-banner__eyebrow\">\n            Read our complete coverage          <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>    <\/a><br \/>\n  <\/aside>\n<p><!-- END-BLOCK(promote-post)[0] --><\/p>\n<p>In his second term, Trump\u2019s aides and advisers have been clearly setting up a justification for invoking the law \u2014 softening up MAGA adherents to accept yet another shockingly dictatorial move from the president.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s no accident, after all, that members of Trump\u2019s Cabinet have repeatedly used the term \u201cinsurrection\u201d and \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/06\/09\/us\/trump-los-angeles-protestors-insurrectionists.html\">insurrectionists<\/a>\u201d to describe the protesters standing up to U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement\u2019s Gestapo-style operations. And Stephen Miller, the ghoulish architect of Trump\u2019s deportation machine, <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/mollyjongfast.bsky.social\/post\/3m2jhefk47k2u\">described<\/a> the Oregon judge\u2019s ruling as \u201clegal insurrection.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Like an incantation, they call the notion of insurrection into being to justify the Insurrection Act\u2019s invocation when no such justification exists in material reality.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Trump administration is following a playbook: cause chaos, create fear and confusion, make it seem like peaceful protesters are a mob by firing gas pellets and tear gas canisters at them,\u201d JB Pritzker, the Democratic governor of Illinois, where Trump\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/09\/08\/trump-chicago-ice-dhs-apocalypse-now\/\">storm troopers<\/a> already <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/10\/04\/united-police-state-of-america\/\">wreaking havoc<\/a> in Chicago, said on Monday. \u201cWhy? To create the pretext for invoking the Insurrection Act so that he can send the military to our city.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-ripe-for-abuse\"><strong>Ripe for Abuse<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Then there is the law itself, which could not be better tailored for abuse by exactly the kind of brazen authoritarian like Trump. Legal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2024\/03\/28\/1241141939\/insurrection-act\">experts<\/a> have long warned that the two-century-old statute is dangerously broad and in desperate need of updating for the exact reasons it\u2019s such an appealing tool for Trump.<\/p>\n<p>First, the law gives extraordinary discretion to the president alone to declare a domestic \u201cinsurrection\u201d is underway and deploy U.S. military forces against the American people. And it\u2019s one of the few key exceptions to the <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/06\/09\/la-ice-protests-national-guard-marines-trump\/\">Posse Comitatus Act<\/a> barring federal military forces from<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/07\/22\/military-troops-deployed-border-ice\/\"> engaging in civilian law enforcement operations<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>If there is \u201ca reason\u201d we have an Insurrection Act, as Trump said on Monday, then it is a historic one, with little bearing on current conditions. With its roots in the 1792 Militia Act and first enacted in 1807, the Insurrection Act \u201chas not been meaningfully updated in over 150 years, is dangerously overbroad and ripe for abuse,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.brennancenter.org\/our-work\/research-reports\/insurrection-act-explained\">wrote<\/a> Joseph Nunn of the Brennan Center for Justice.<\/p>\n<p>The language of the law is vague \u2014 a gift to a president with dictatorial aims. It grants the federal executive power to deploy troops to suppress \u201cany insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy\u201d in a state that \u201copposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNothing in the text of the Insurrection Act defines \u2018insurrection,\u2019 \u2018rebellion,\u2019 \u2018domestic violence,\u2019 or any of the other key terms used in setting forth the prerequisites for deployment,\u201d noted Nunn. \u201cAbsent statutory guidance, the Supreme Court decided early on that this question is for the president alone to decide.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- BLOCK(newsletter)[0](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22NEWSLETTER%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%7D) --><\/p>\n<div class=\"newsletter-embed flex-col items-center print:hidden\" id=\"third-party--article-mid\" data-module=\"InlineNewsletter\" data-module-source=\"web_intercept_20241230_Inline_Signup_Replacement\">\n<div class=\"-mx-5 sm:-mx-10 p-5 sm:px-10 xl:-ml-5 lg:mr-0 xl:px-5 bg-accentLight hidden\" data-name=\"subscribed\">\n<h2 class=\"font-sans font-light uppercase text-[30px] leading-8 text-white tracking-[0.01em] mb-0\">\n      We\u2019re independent of corporate interests \u2014 and powered by members. Join us.    <\/h2>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/join.theintercept.com\/donate\/now\/?referrer_post_id=500412&amp;referrer_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheintercept.com%2F2025%2F10%2F07%2Ftrump-insurrection-act%2F&amp;source=web_intercept_20241230_Inline_Signup_Replacement\" class=\"border border-white !text-white font-mono uppercase p-5 inline-flex items-center gap-3 hover:bg-white hover:!text-accentLight focus:bg-white focus:!text-accentLight\" data-name=\"donateCTA\" data-action=\"handleDonate\"><br \/>\n      Become a member      <span class=\"font-icons icon-TI_Arrow_02_Right\"\/><br \/>\n    <\/a>\n  <\/div>\n<div class=\"group default w-full px-5 hidden\" data-name=\"unsubscribed\">\n<div class=\"px-5 border-[10px] border-accentLight\">\n<div class=\"bg-white -my-2.5 relative block px-4 md:px-5\">\n<h2 class=\"font-sans font-body text-[30px] font-bold tracking-[0.01em] leading-8 mb-0 xl:text-[37px] xl:leading-[39px]\">\n          <span class=\"group-[.subscribed]:hidden\"><br \/>\n            Join Our Newsletter          <\/span><br \/>\n          <span class=\"group-[.default]:hidden\"><br \/>\n            Thank You For Joining!          <\/span><br \/>\n        <\/h2>\n<p class=\"text-[27px] mb-3.5 font-bold text-accentLight tracking-[0.01em] leading-[29px] font-sans xl:text-[37px] xl:leading-[39px]\">\n          <span class=\"group-[.subscribed]:hidden\"><br \/>\n            Original reporting. Fearless journalism. Delivered to you.          <\/span><br \/>\n          <span class=\"group-[.default]:hidden\"><br \/>\n            Will you take the next step to support our independent journalism by becoming a member of The Intercept?          <\/span>\n        <\/p>\n<p>        <a href=\"https:\/\/join.theintercept.com\/donate\/now\/?referrer_post_id=500412&amp;referrer_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheintercept.com%2F2025%2F10%2F07%2Ftrump-insurrection-act%2F&amp;source=web_intercept_20241230_Inline_Signup_Replacement\" class=\"group-[.default]:hidden border border-accentLight text-accentLight font-sans px-5 py-3.5 inline-flex items-center gap-3 text-[20px] font-bold\" data-action=\"handleDonate\"><br \/>\n          Become a member          <span class=\"font-icons icon-TI_Arrow_02_Right\"\/><br \/>\n        <\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"font-sans text-accentLight text-[10px] leading-[13px] text-balance [&amp;_a]:text-accentLight [&amp;_a]:font-bold [&amp;_a:hover]:underline group-[.subscribed]:hidden\">\n<p>By signing up, I agree to receive emails from The Intercept and to the <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/privacy-policy\/\">Privacy Policy<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/terms-use\/\">Terms of Use<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- END-BLOCK(newsletter)[0] --><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-create-the-pretext\"><strong>\u201cCreate the Pretext\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Concern that Trump will invoke the Insurrection Act to take control of Democratic-led cities is by no means far-fetched. Our cities are already occupied by a federal army of thugs \u2014 ICE \u2014 directed to kidnap and cage our neighbors atop regular police violence. And Trump has already federalized and deployed National Guard troops in Los Angeles and Washington, overreaches that are already facing their own legal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/politics-news\/blue-states-fight-back-trumps-national-guard-moves-politics-desk-rcna236038\">challenges<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Things can, of course, get much worse. Invoking the Insurrection Act would not, however, be a flip switch moving us from a functional democracy into fascism; rather, it would be an expansion of already existent fascist action, and another tool that the president can use to continue to crackdown on dissent.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-left\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>It\u2019s tempting to urge protesters to avoid giving Trump a pretext for escalation. That would be a grave mistake.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>In the face of such a threat, it is tempting to urge protesters to be placid, to avoid giving the Trump administration pretext for further escalation. That would be a grave mistake.<\/p>\n<p>Even Pritzker\u2019s statement recognized that it is the president\u2019s regime that will \u201ccreate the pretext,\u201d regardless of how peaceful the protesters are.<\/p>\n<p>In the Trumpist imagination \u2014 committed to the <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/09\/19\/trump-charlie-kirk-george-soros-antifa\/\">lie and\/or delusion <\/a>of a well-funded network of criminal leftists \u2014 no real pretext is required for a <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/10\/04\/united-police-state-of-america\/\">further collapsing<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/08\/11\/trump-washington-dc-federalization-national-guard-troops\/\">police and military state<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>By ruling that the administration\u2019s notion of a grave threat to federal agents was unmoored from reality, Immergut, the federal judge, was saying that Trump cannot ignore facts on the ground.<\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s flirtations with the Insurrection Act on Monday, though, made clear that he wholly intends to do so.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/10\/07\/trump-insurrection-act\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Oct. 6, 2025.\u00a0Photo: Aaron Schwartz\/CNP\/Bloomberg via Getty Images President Donald Trump teased a dangerous escalation on Monday afternoon, threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act to send military forces to U.S. cities, should pesky judges and state leaders continue to thwart his ambitions [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4002","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-usa-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}