Speaking to troops aboard a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier in Japan, President Donald Trump boasted that he can send any branch of America’s armed forces into U.S. cities as part of his anti-crime initiative — and that local residents won’t care.

President Trump has faced a series of legal challenges over his efforts to deploy the National Guard to major U.S. cities, as Democratic governors and attorneys general have filed lawsuits to block the troops from entering their jurisdictions.

“You know, people don’t care if we send in our military, if we send in our National Guard, if we send in Space Command, they don’t care who the hell it is,” Trump told troops aboard the USS George Washington in Yokosuka.

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“They just wanna be safe. And we have safe cities,” Trump insisted.

“Now we’re starting in Memphis, and Memphis was a disaster,” he said. “It’s been there, they’ve been there for two weeks, and it’s a whole different story.”

“Crime is less than half, and within a month it’ll be gone,” the president claimed without offering any proof.

“Getting rid of all the bad ones, and we’re gonna go into Chicago, we’re gonna go into our cities, we’re gonna clean them out, we’re gonna straighten them out, and we’re gonna have safe cities, because you wanna protect safe cities,” he said.

“We’re gonna have beautiful, safe, cities, and it’s happening very quickly and very easily, actually. It’s easy for us. It’s hard for them,” the president said.

“And we have to have a little more help. It doesn’t matter.”

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“Really, we could do as we want to do, but it would be nice to have more help from some of the Democrat governors that don’t mind.”

Trump has deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles, California, Washington, D.C., Portland, Oregon, Chicago, Illinois, and Memphis, Tennessee. Courts have blocked the deployments in Portland and Chicago, according to The New York Times.

Most recently, Trump threatened to send the National Guard to San Francisco, but backed down after big tech leaders requested he hold off, NBC News had reported.

Trump: “People don’t care if we send in our military, if we send in our National Guard, if we send in Space Command, they don’t care who it is, they just want to be safe … we’re gonna go into Chicago … we can do as we want to do.” pic.twitter.com/FKEhISQkdv

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 28, 2025

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Over the weekend, the U.S. Department of Agriculture updated its website with an expanded message blaming Democrats’ support for “illegal aliens” and gender-affirming care for transgender people as reasons “mothers, babies, and the most vulnerable among us” will be denied “critical nutrition assistance.” Benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are expected to be shut off on November 1 due to the federal government shutdown, although some say there are funds available that legally can be used to continue benefits.

On Saturday, visitors to USDA.gov were confronted with this message: “Due to the Radical Left Democrat shutdown, this government website will not be updated during the funding lapse. President Trump has made it clear he wants to keep the government open and support those who feed, fuel, and clothe the American people.”

Some experts have said similar messages may violate the Hatch Act.

READ MORE: ‘Refrain From Any Action’: Congressional Vets Warn Trump on Using Troops Against Americans

On Sunday, the message was changed to read: “Senate Democrats have now voted 12 times to not fund the food stamp program, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Bottom line, the well has run dry. At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01. We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats.”

It then went on to blame Democrats for continuing to “hold out for healthcare” for “illegal aliens,” before adding also a coarse description of gender affirming care, including surgery, for transgender people.

The federal government has been shut down since October 1. At 27 days, this is the second-longest shutdown in U.S. history. The longest, 35 days, was during President Trump’s first term.

About 42 million people access Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to help feed themselves and their families. The vast majority of adults using SNAP have at least one job.

Democrats have refused to vote to re-open the government because Republicans have said they will not negotiate on reinstating subsidies for the Affordable Care Act. Millions of Americans may see their monthly health care premiums double or even triple, some experts have said. Double-digit increases, at least, are expected. Millions are expected to lose their health care as a result of the canceled subsidies.

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More than forty members of Congress, including military veterans, are urging President Donald Trump to not violate the Posse Comitatus Act by using U.S. Armed Forces against Americans on American soil.

President Trump has recently and repeatedly threatened to use the Insurrection Act, which is “among the most powerful emergency powers at the disposal of a president, who can use it to deploy the U.S. armed forces and the militia to suppress insurrections, quell civil unrest or domestic violence, and enforce the law when it is being obstructed,” according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

“I could use it. If I wanted to, I could use it,” Trump said this month. “I’m allowed to use the Insurrection Act.”

“Trump and his team have threatened to invoke it almost daily for weeks,” according to the L.A. Times earlier this month, “after a reporter pressed the president about his escalating efforts to dispatch federalized troops to Democrat-led cities.”

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MSNBC reported two weeks ago that Trump “has been itching to use the Insurrection Act since the George Floyd protests in 2020. But he’s closer than ever to invoking the 1807 law.”

In their letter to President Trump, the 43 members of Congress, led by Army veteran and U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA), expressed “grave concern” about “reports that your Administration is considering invocation of the Insurrection Act to deploy active-duty military forces for domestic law enforcement.”

They said to do so would be a “profound departure” from “constitutional traditions and limits established under the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the use of the United States military, including National Guard troops called into federal service, in civilian law enforcement except in the narrowest and most extraordinary circumstances.”

Explaining how the Insurrection Act may be invoked, they made clear: “None of these conditions currently exist.”

“Threatening or preparing to use the military against the American people,” they warn, “is both inappropriate and deeply irresponsible.”

They also chastise his administration’s “rhetoric and subsequent actions singling out communities and states led by elected officials of the opposing political party,” saying, that “only deepens the perception that such actions would be politically motivated rather than grounded in law.”

“We therefore urge you, in the strongest possible terms, to refrain from any action that would violate the Posse Comitatus Act or undermine the principle of civilian governance.”

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President Trump has wrongly claimed that about half of the American presidents have invoked the Insurrection Act:

“Don’t forget I can use the Insurrection Act. Fifty percent of the presidents, almost, have used that. And that’s unquestioned power,” he said, according to Politifact.

CNN called his comment “at least a slight exaggeration,” and noted that, according to the Brennan Center, just 17 of 45 presidents have invoked it.

MSNBC reported that the “rarely used law was last invoked by President George H.W. Bush in 1992 during the Los Angeles riots that followed the acquittal of police officers in the beating of Rodney King.”

CNN also noted that Trump has wrongly claimed one unnamed president used the Insurrection Act 28 times: “That figure is nowhere close to accurate.”

On Friday, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) wrote: “There is no rebellion. Not in Los Angeles. Not in Portland or Chicago or D.C. Not in San Francisco. And yet Donald Trump continues to threaten invocation of the Insurrection Act to force these cities to bend the knee to his will.”

Congressman Thompson on Sunday wrote: “We won’t be intimidated — and we won’t allow the President to misuse our military to police our communities. The law is clear: the Insurrection Act doesn’t give him that power.”

Trump: “Don’t forget I can use the Insurrection Act. 50% of the presidents almost have used that. And that’s unquestioned power.” pic.twitter.com/2MBpQoo8Ij

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 19, 2025

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