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Trump’s politicizing of the U.S. military is accelerating

Why are so many generals getting fired? Congress should summon them to find out.

By MAX BOOT

Washington Post
November 3, 2025

There are too many scandals to count in the Trump administration, but one of the most significant isn’t getting the attention it deserves. I refer to efforts by President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to politicize the armed forces and to turn them into instruments of their MAGA agenda.

Hegseth and Trump keep giving blatantly political speeches in front of military audiences, even though military regulations (upheld by the Supreme Court) forbid uniformed personnel from taking part in partisan activities. Just last week, speaking aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington in Japan, Trump repeatedly attacked his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden. (Trump falsely said that Biden had claimed to be a pilot and added, “He wasn’t a pilot. Wasn’t much of a president either.”)

A month earlier, speaking at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, Trump told the nation’s most senior generals (who sat stony-faced) that he intends to mobilize the military against “the enemy from within” and to use U.S. cities “as training grounds for our military.” In Japan last week, he threatened to “send more than the National Guard” to U.S. cities. Trump boasted: “I could send the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, I can send anybody I wanted.”