Protests to parades: Trump in a military mindset as troops hit US streets
US president touts intervention in cities like Los Angeles while preparing for a massive show of force in the capital
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Trump vows to ‘liberate’ Los Angeles as protests spread to other major US cities
US President Donald Trump has shifted into a noticeably military mindset, just days before hundreds of tanks and combat vehicles will rumble along the streets of the nation’s capital.
“Those foolish enough to challenge America’s Army have been met with unyielding strength, unbreakable spirit and unstoppable, overwhelming force,” Trump, wearing a red 82nd Airborne Division ball cap, said at an event on Tuesday in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where the unit is based. “Time and again, our enemies have learned that if you dare to threaten the American people, an American soldier will chase you down, crush you and cast you into oblivion.”
Speaking before a crowd that included service members and veterans, Trump warned potential foes that the soldiers surrounding him would hit them with “the ferocious roar of the US Army, an infantry brigade charging over the horizon. That brigade is going to charge like you’ve never seen before”.
On World War II, Trump again showed a willingness to go where his predecessors would not: “We’re the ones that won the war. Without us, you’d all be speaking German right now. Maybe a little Japanese thrown in. But we won the war”.
Trump started the day by contending that had he not ordered National Guard troops and active-duty Marines to Los Angeles, “that once beautiful and great city would be burning to the ground right now”. Onstage at the US Army base, he called modern-day Los Angeles a “trash heap” and vowed to “liberate” city.