10/03/2025
🚨 BREAKING: Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Mark Hertling just bravely TORCHED Donald Trump for his un-American and outright DANGEROUS call for the U.S. military to “train” in — and wage “war” on — America’s liberal cities.
At a surreal event in Quantico where Trump rambled in front of 800 generals, admirals, and senior enlisted leaders, the disgraced ex-president floated the idea of using American neighborhoods as military training grounds — effectively preparing troops to turn their weapons on fellow Americans.
With a straight face, Trump told the room: “We should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military.” He ranted that the U.S. is facing an “invasion from within, no different than a foreign enemy,” and singled out San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles as targets. Then he added chillingly: “We’re going to straighten them out one by one. And this is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room.”
On the Daily Beast podcast, retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling — who spent decades leading American soldiers and commanded U.S. Army Europe — heard every word. And his warning could not be clearer: Trump’s proposal isn’t just reckless. It’s unconstitutional, illegal, and a direct threat to the Republic.
“Breaking that razor’s edge into policing activities, again, is contrary to the Constitution and contrary to our laws, so it shouldn’t be done,” Hertling said bluntly. “What I heard the president say yesterday was an implied remark that he was telling everyone in that room is be prepared to do that. And that only happens once an insurrection occurs, like during the Civil War.”
Think about that. A decorated general is saying out loud that Trump is priming the military to step into the role of an occupying force in American cities — something our democracy has avoided for 250 years.
Hertling laid out why this is so dangerous. Soldiers are trained for combat, not policing. “Soldiers do not get any training on police activities other than those who are going to be military police men and women. So you’re putting an infantryman, a tanker, a truck driver in front of America’s people. And that would be like saying you and I could go out and arrest people and quell riots and do all those kind of things.”
In his words, the military is the “means of last resort” for any domestic emergency — “primarily because they’re not trained to do things like that. And secondarily, because it’s against the law.”
That last phrase says it all: against the law. Trump is not just fantasizing about a new role for the armed forces. He’s toying with illegal orders that would put America’s military officers in an impossible position.
“Soldiers do not get any training on police activities other than those who are going to be military police men and women," Hertling continued. "So you’re putting an infantryman, a tanker, a truck driver in front of America’s people. And that would be like saying you and I could go out and arrest people and quell riots and do all those kind of things.”
And according to Hertling, those officers know it. “I know for a fact that there’s talk inside the military ranks of what is the best way to disobey an unlawful order,” he revealed. But thanks to Trump’s allies on the Supreme Court, the president himself may be shielded from accountability, leaving the burden — and the risk of prosecution — squarely on the shoulders of the generals and admirals he’s pressuring. “Given the recent Supreme Court ruling, which holds the president immune from criminal acts, but the people he’s ordering to do these things are subject to those criminal violations… how do you say no? Hertling asked, pointing to the chilling dilemma.
This isn’t abstract. Hertling himself has faced down illegal orders before — and stopped them. “In each one of those cases … my bosses … said, yeah, you’re probably right. This is illegal. Let’s change this order.” That’s what professional military leadership looks like. But under Trump, Hertling fears that chain of integrity will be broken.
Even America’s allies are rattled. Hertling says foreign commanders have been reaching out, asking why the U.S. military is suddenly being berated and politicized. His answer is grim: our enemies love it, because it shows Trump’s chaos strategy is working.
Trump gave the country a preview of what a second term would look like: a commander-in-chief demanding loyalty, encouraging illegal orders, and hinting at turning troops against fellow Americans. Hertling’s verdict is unflinching: it’s unconstitutional, unlawful, and corrosive to everything the U.S. military stands for.
This is not leadership. It’s authoritarian theater, dressed up as military strategy. And as General Hertling is warning us: if we don’t stop Trump now, the next “war” he launches could be against ANY of us.
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