The White House appears to be telegraphing President Donald Trump’s plans to expand the domestic deployment of military forces across U.S. cities — defying opposition from local leaders — while attacking the press for reporting it.

Describing the President’s deployment of the National Guard and U.S. military, ostensibly to protect ICE agents, federal buildings, and patrol city streets, as a “proven formula” to curb crime — which FBI data show was already declining nationwide — Leavitt rebuked the press for “framing this like the president wants to take over the American cities with the military.”

Asked at Monday’s briefing if Democrats have “reason to be concerned that there are long-term plans by this administration to keep U.S. military or the National Guard in American cities, like what we’re seeing here in Washington,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters, “Why should they be concerned about the federal government offering help to make their cities a safer place?”

READ MORE: ‘The Ground Has Shifted’: Experts Warn After Trump’s ‘Gnat’ Speech to U.S. Navy

Aside from Washington, D.C., no mayor who has been notified of possible federal troops on their streets has supported the idea. Mayor Bowser has taken a reserved stance, given the District’s federal constraints. Federal law, in most cases, requires the governor to ask the President for troops.

“They should be concerned about the fact that people in their cities right now are being gunned down every single night, and the president, all he’s trying to do is fix it,” Leavitt insisted, despite troops largely being unwelcome.

She decried what she alleged was a “complete smear campaign by the Democrats and the media, quite frankly.”

“I was reading Politico Playbook this morning — one of the most inside the Beltway newsletters you can find — and you guys are framing this, like the president wants to take over the American cities with the military. The president wants to help these local leaders who have been completely ineffective in securing their own cities,” Leavitt claimed, before suggesting plans for further militarization.

“And we have already seen, there’s a positive formula for that. Look at Washington, D.C. The murder rate has declined significantly. Our streets are safer. People who live here feel safer. All of you in this room, I know you do. You just won’t admit it.”

READ MORE: ‘I Don’t Negotiate With Terrorists’: GOP Congressman Targets Democrats in Outrageous Rant

“And it’s a proven system that works, and the president wants to make America’s cities safe again,” Leavitt added. “And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”

Critics blasted Leavitt’s remarks.

“Troops are being deployed to US cities where the crime rate has plummeted—against the wishes of states, cities, and local residents. It IS a takeover. No other way to frame it,” wrote political strategist Sawyer Hackett.

Democratic activist and strategist Olivia Julianna pointed to a headline that read: “Trump says military should use U.S. cities as ‘training grounds’.” She commented, “This was LAST WEEK btw.”

Author and political commentator Brian Tylor Cohen remarked: “Probably because that is *quite literally* what’s happening.”

Leavitt: I was reading Politico Playbook—you guys are framing this like the president wants to take over the American cities with the military. pic.twitter.com/JxKI8J4sXv

— Acyn (@Acyn) October 6, 2025

READ MORE: ‘Intolerable Abuse of Power’: Top Democrat Rages at Trump’s ‘MAGA Propaganda’ Scheme

U.S. Rep. Randy Fine is under fire for remarks he made on Monday likening Democrats to “terrorists.”

Speaking to the right-wing media outlet Newsmax about the federal government shutdown, Fine, a MAGA Republican from Florida, said: “I don’t negotiate with terrorists. And what we’re learned in whether it’s dealing with Muslim terrorists or Democrats, you’ve gotta stand and you’ve gotta do the right thing.”

Fine also said he hopes Republicans “stand firm” against Democrats, “and tell them, ‘No, we’re not gonna retreat on giving free healthcare to illegal immigrants. We’re just not gonna do it.'”

“And hopefully, the American people will rise up and tell them to stop the clown show and get the government reopened,” he added.

READ MORE: ‘The Ground Has Shifted’: Experts Warn After Trump’s ‘Gnat’ Speech to U.S. Navy

Democrats are not asking to give “free healthcare to illegal immigrants,” although the President and the Republican Party continue to make that false claim. A 1986 federal law requires most hospitals to triage and treat anyone who needs medical attention regardless of citizenship status or ability to pay.

Fine’s remarks come just after President Donald Trump labeled Democrats “gnats,” a common insect, on Sunday, in remarks made to about ten thousand Navy sailors and service members. He also on Sunday claimed that “insurrectionists” are “all over” Portland, Oregon.

Last week President Trump labeled Democrats “the party of hate, evil, and Satan.”

In response to Congressman Fine’s remarks, veteran journalist John Harwood wrote: “lunatic.”

Rep. Randy Fine: “I don’t negotiate with terrorists. And what we’re learned in whether it’s dealing with Muslim terrorists or Democrats, you’ve gotta stand and you’ve gotta do the right thing.” pic.twitter.com/RK8vgH2VK8

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 6, 2025

READ MORE: ‘Intolerable Abuse of Power’: Top Democrat Rages at Trump’s ‘MAGA Propaganda’ Scheme

Image: Wikimedia Commons/ Public domain

National security, military, legal, and political experts are warning that President Donald Trump crossed a dangerous line in his latest speech — a televised, rally-style address to more than ten thousand U.S. Navy service members in which the Commander in Chief urged the troops to “take care of this little gnat that’s on our shoulder called the Democrats,” a statement many view as an authoritarian abuse of the military’s apolitical role.

“But we have to take care of this little gnat that’s on our shoulder, called the Democrats,” Trump told the cheering Navy crowd in Norfolk, Virginia, that included sailors, SEALs, and Marines. “They want to give all of our money to illegal aliens that pour into the country.”

The late Sunday afternoon event was slated as a celebration of the Navy’s 250th anniversary.

READ MORE: ‘Intolerable Abuse of Power’: Top Democrat Rages at Trump’s ‘MAGA Propaganda’ Scheme

Juliette Kayyem is a senior public policy lecturer and the faculty director of the Homeland Security Project and the Security and Global Health Project at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, as well as a CNN senior national security analyst and a contributor to The Atlantic, according to her bio.

She wrote: “‘Take care of’ is not subtle. This weekend the ground has shifted and no person can deny what the president, unpopular and unfit, intends. To remain silent is to welcome this. They can both sides or claim they didn’t hear, but there is no wiggle room about his plans now.”

Political and national security analyst, and well-known veterans advocate Paul Rieckhoff called the President’s “gnat” remark “wrong, outrageous, shameful and disgusting.”

“These are lines that should never been crossed,” he warned. “And have never been crossed. But he keeps crossing them.”

“Never let them normalize how wrong it is to attack political opponents when speaking to a military audience,” Rieckhoff added. “This is impeachable behavior. But not a single member of Congress has the courage to make the case. And it’s getting worse fast.”

READ MORE: Leavitt Explains White House Claim ‘Illegals’ Get Free Health Care—Experts Disagree

Stanford Professor of International Studies in Political Science Michael McFaul, a former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, remarked: “In front of this audience, this statement is wrong… and scary. He is supposed to be the president of the United States of ALL Americans, not just his party. Polarization is destroying our country at home and making us weaker abroad.”

​Political and communications consultant Jesse C. Lee, a former Biden and Obama official, observed: “Trump is on a tour of speeches to our active military, telling them that the new focus is going to be on wars against the ‘enemy within’ and that Dems are bugs that need to be exterminated, while sending the National Guard to occupy ‘Democrat run cities.’ Textbook fascism.”

U.S. Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ) wrote: “Donald Trump keeps blurring the line between law enforcement and the military to go after political opponents. It’s unacceptable, and it’s how authoritarians consolidate power. We must name and resist every attempt to use government power to silence dissent.”

Gregg Nunziata is the executive director, Society for the Rule of Law, a Federalist Society member, and a former attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.

He wrote: “‘We have to take care of this little gnat on our shoulder called the Democrats,’ says the American President to cheering servicemembers. This is so incredibly repugnant and un-American, on so many levels, I don’t even know where to begin.”

Dave Cavell, a former speechwriter for President and First Lady Obama and Vice President Harris, remarked: “I’m a former WH speechwriter who has written many speeches to those who serve. I can barely describe the rage and shock I feel seeing this lunatic spew vile, fascist style garbage at our troops, whose mission is to serve us all, not a party — or this bozo.”

Trump to the Navy: “We have to take care of this little gnat that’s on our shoulder called the Democrats.” pic.twitter.com/WD6Ojn75yP

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 5, 2025

READ MORE: ‘None of Us Consented’: Trump Admin Blasted for Altering Federal Workers’ Emails

Image via Reuters