election. The thinking being that armed soldiers stationed near polling places might frighten enough voters into staying home on Election Day to help the GOP retain control of Congress.
In this issue of the“ Morgan Global Journalism Review” we have two stories from Washington, where troops have been on the streets since April. While none of what Courtland Milloy and Adam Nguyen report is frightening, Trump seemed to ratchet up the concerns of his opponents recently when he told a gathering of 800 of the U. S. military’ s highest ranking officers that he wants the cities to which he sends troops to become a training ground for the“ warrior” fighting force Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth says he is creating.
For his part, Trump, who received five deferments to avoid military service during the Vietnam War, said the troops he is sending to Portland are authorized to use“ full force, if necessary” to carry out their mission, which at this point seems unclear. What seems certain is that that kind of talk from the president of the United States is chilling.
All of this reminds me that the job of journalists – even university-based journalists – is to be watchdogs of those in power. So, in future issues of the“ Morgan Global Journalism Review” we will watch more closely how far Trump will go in his war against those he has branded“ the enemy within” America’ s borders. •
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