President Donald Trump has treated the US military less as an instrument of national defense than as a personal tool for enforcing political will. National Guard units have been deployed to Washington, DC, Los Angeles, and other cities under circumstances that critics argue constitute intimidation rather than legitimate security operations. Citizens and green card holders have reportedly been detained without clear legal authority, raising urgent questions about the erosion of civil liberties. Meanwhile, the Department of Defense has been rhetorically rebranded as the Department of War, signaling a broader offensive posture not just abroad, but potentially at home.

Trump presents himself as a modern Washington or Jefferson, the fearless guardian of American virtue. Make America Great Again promises a return to a mythic past. In practice, however, his administration functions as a laboratory for authoritarian experimentation, exposing the fragility of constitutional and institutional safeguards designed to survive the ambitions of overreaching executives.

George Washington could have claimed lifetime rule; he refused. Trump refused to accept defeat in 2020, attempted to subvert electoral results, and incited the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Washington built a democracy capable of outliving him; Trump has tested one that explicitly rejected him. Law, the Founders warned, is the scaffold of liberty. Trump has repeatedly tested those boundaries, obstructing justice, dodging subpoenas, and converting the Justice Department into a tool for personal protection.

The deployment of National Guard forces to US cities highlights a deeper problem: the militarization of domestic governance. Trump has framed these deployments as necessary for “security,” yet the timing, targets, and accompanying rhetoric—such as memes depicting him as a cavalry commander in Apocalypse Now—signal political theater intended to intimidate and assert personal authority over the citizenry. While he later denied plans to “go to war on Chicago,” the casualness of the threat reveals a disturbing comfort with the idea of domestic coercion.

The central question is not abstract: Will Americans exercise the tools the Constitution provides to resist authoritarian drift?

Thomas Jefferson warned that democracy cannot survive without an independent press. Trump calls journalists “the enemy of the people,” excludes them from briefings, and spreads misinformation to undermine public trust. James Madison designed a system of checks and balances to prevent executive overreach. Trump treats Congress and the courts as obstacles, delegitimizing oversight and eroding judicial independence. Alexander Hamilton’s vision of a strong but accountable executive is inverted: Presidential power becomes indistinguishable from personal empire.

Some defenders argue that Trump remains constitutionally constrained, that executive orders, emergency declarations,........

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