Republicans Support Trump Expanding Military Use on US Soil

President Donald Trump is significantly expanding the domestic use of the U.S. military, deploying National Guard troops in urban areas for crime control, immigration enforcement, and anti-gang operations. This shift marks a historic change in military-civil relations, with deployments planned for cities including Chicago, Baltimore, and New Orleans, sometimes without state requests. Republican lawmakers have broadly supported these actions, viewing them as necessary responses to high crime rates in Democrat-led cities, with leaders like Sen. Roger Wicker and House Speaker Mike Johnson endorsing the deployments. Polling shows that 81% of Americans consider crime a major issue in large cities, reinforcing Republican messaging despite overall declines in crime rates. Experts and civil liberties groups have raised concerns about blurred legal boundaries and potential executive overreach. Nevertheless, Trump’s approach is reshaping the military’s domestic role and its relationship with the American public.