Eric Trump’s controversial remarks — declaring that his father is guided by God and praising what he describes as a divinely orchestrated series of events leading America to this moment — are being blasted by a group of hundreds of national security experts.

“I can’t tell you how many things are lining up,” the President’s son told right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson.

“I mean, think about the fact that this book came out on Charlie Kirk’s birthday, on the same day as we have peace in the Middle East,” he said, of his new book. “You know, I mean, so many different factors are all coming together at once in the most unthinkable, unbelievable journey.”

“Look how much better humanity and our world is,” under Trump, he claimed.

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“You know, we’re saving Christianity. We’re saving God, we’re saving the family unit. We’re saving this nation. I mean, you know, DEI is out the window, Benny. You know, I mean, you no longer have Colin Kaepernick kneeling for the national anthem,” Trump continued. “You no longer have Budweiser going, woke as h–, all of this is dead.”

Trump claimed a resurgence in church attendance, and “a return to people, you know, valuing their children, and valuing society, and believing in the white picket fence, and what the American dream represents, and what the American dream stands for, and American exceptionalism, and peace around the world, and that people can coexist with one another without having to, you know, pick up arms and destroy each other for no reason whatsoever, other than, you know, incompetent, and, you know, and egotistical governments.”

“It’s a beautiful time, and he will go to heaven for all of that,’ he said of his father. “God absolutely guided this journey.”

The Steady State, a group of over 330 former national security officials, slammed the Trump scion’s remarks.

“Eric Trump is not talking politics,” they wrote. “Instead, he’s declaring a new moral order.”

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“Framing Trump as God-guided and destined for heaven, he claims America has been ‘saved’ from DEI, protest, and pluralism. This is prophetic, authoritarian language,” they warned.

“Dissent becomes evil, and their victory becomes divine destiny.”

Former Obama head speechwriter turned political commentator Jon Favreau remarked, “We’ve moved rather quickly from ‘God saved Trump’ to ‘Trump is saving God,’ which I guess is the foundation of the new MAGA religion?”

Author Jennifer Erin Valent, winner of a Christian writers’ award commented, “No one ‘saves’ God. Every Christian should know that and be repulsed by the very assertion.”

Eric Trump: “We’re saving Christianity. We’ve saving God. We’ve saving the family unit. We’re saving this nation. I mean, DEI is out of the window, Benny. You no longer have Colin Kaepernick kneeling for the national anthem. You no longer have Budweiser going woke as hell. All of… pic.twitter.com/OFEcxmLhmc

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 14, 2025

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Image via Reuters

Following the launch of a massive federal interagency task force in partnership with state law enforcement, Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Lee pledged that the “Memphis Safe Task Force” would be a permanent fixture.

Last month, the White House published a presidential memorandum titled “Restoring Law and Order in Memphis,” which orders thirteen federal government agencies and offices to coordinate. It states the “objective shall be to end street and violent crime in Memphis to the greatest possible extent,” and lists actions including “hypervigilant policing, aggressive prosecution, complex investigations, financial enforcement, and large-scale saturation of besieged neighborhoods with law enforcement personnel.”

Memphis is among the most violent cities in the country.

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“The Memphis Safe Task Force began operations on September 29, with the National Guard joining efforts this past Friday,” Action5 News reported on Monday.

Governor Lee told reporters on Tuesday, “we’ve just begun,” and said the program will last “for months,” before stating that in some form it will continue “forever.”

“We do know that this is gonna last for months, and we have just begun. In fact, I will tell you that it will last forever,” he said. “Because what we believe will happen is the numbers of law enforcement agents from different agencies will change, depending on the mission at the moment.”

He described a “collaboration that is happening right now between U.S. Marshal Service and the Memphis Police Department, and the FBI, and the DEA, and the Tennessee Highway Patrol.”

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“That collaboration will be here from now on,” said Lee. “So this operation, in some ways, may never end.”

Critics blasted the governor.

“As I predicted,” noted authoritarianism expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat, the “aim is a ‘domestic forever war.'”

The Atlantic’s Dr. Norman Ornstein, a political scientist, wrote: “Fascist. Pure fascist.”

Columnist and “recovering attorney” Wajahat Ali added, “Forever occupation, eh?”

Gov. Bill Lee says the Trump-Lee military-police occupation of Memphis “may never end.”

“We have just begun. We do know this is going to last for months… In fact, I will tell you that it will last forever.” pic.twitter.com/y9k2Gi6peD

— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) October 14, 2025

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After firing thousands of federal government workers on Friday, the Trump White House Office of Management and Budget is threatening even more layoffs — which some experts and Democratic lawmakers say could be unlawful.

The Office of Management and Budget last week fired about four thousand federal employees and now says an additional reduction in force (RIF) should be expected.

“OMB is making every preparation to batten down the hatches and ride out the Democrats’ intransigence,” the Office, run by Russ Vought, said in a social media post. “Pay the troops, pay law enforcement, continue the RIFs, and wait.”

President Trump directed the Pentagon to pay the U.S. military with “all available funds,” which some suggest could also be unlawful without congressional approval. On Tuesday, the White House said it was looking for ways to pay law enforcement officers as well, as first reported by Punchbowl News.

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The layoffs, Bloomberg News reported, “marked the first large-scale ouster of federal employees during a funding lapse in modern history, going beyond the furloughs that have characterized past shutdowns. Republicans claim the terminations are necessary consequence of the shutdown, an assertion Democrats and federal budget experts have disputed.”

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities on Friday wrote that “a shutdown provides no new legal authority to engage in mass layoffs, nor does it provide any sound management or policy reason to do so.”

“Raising the prospect of mass layoffs as direct retaliation if Democrats do not accede to the House Republicans’ short-term funding proposal is simply an Administration threat to hurt the American people if it does not get its way,” CBPP added.

Washington senior reporter Jennifer Shutt of the States Newsroom called OMB’s statement “Another sign Republicans don’t plan to negotiate with Dems and will wait for more to break ranks on [the Senate’s] procedural vote.”

Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman also reported that “The bet Dems have made is that Trump will push Johnson/Thune to sit down and make a deal. At this point, that’s not happening.”

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Image: Wikimedia Commons / Public domain