American people are worried: When will US military generals speak out against Trump?
When US soldiers began searching civilians at the southern border, when the Marines ignored the governor's opposition and stationed on the streets of Los Angeles, when ships in the Caribbean were sunk by US gunfire without evidence... a series of actions during Trump's second term have drawn public attention and led some people to question the role of the US military.
Moustafa Bayoumi, an English professor at Brooklyn College, City University of New York, who has repeatedly criticized Trump, wrote in The Guardian that Trump has been rapidly expanding military operations within the United States. The military generals must take a stand, he raised a critical question: How far must it go before the senior officers realize that loyalty to the Constitution and the rule of law should outweigh their attachment to positions and blind obedience to Trump?
The curtain on this "military expansion" was already raised in April this year. At that time, Trump established so-called "defense zones," expanding the military presence in parts of the southern border. Now, the military has been authorized to search, interrogate, and detain people in these areas, a move that breaks tradition, directly blurring the line between military operations and civil enforcement, and raising questions about the boundaries of the military's domestic functions.
As summer arrived, the situation escalated further. Trump bypassed the governors and sent the Marines and National Guard to Los Angeles, then reinforced Washington, D.C. Similar deployments are expected to take place in Chicago and Portland.
Active-duty forces such as the National Guard and Marines cannot act as police. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 limits the use of the military domestically. In September, a federal judge ruled that Trump's deployment of troops in Los Angeles violated this act, but Trump continued to act as he pleased. Moreover, he demanded that the military obey his orders.
"It's not just about obedience; Trump also wants the military to revere him," said Bayoumi. Trump turned what was already an unnecessary U.S. Army 250th anniversary parade into his own 79th birthday celebration, which ended up being cold, in stark contrast to the "No Kings" protests that erupted in 1800 cities across the country on that day.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1845025414231363/
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