Trump heads to Fort Bragg while facing criticism for deploying military at Los Angeles protests
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump plans to speak at Fort Bragg on Tuesday to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army as he deploys the military in an attempt to quiet immigration protests in Los Angeles.
Fort Bragg, located near Fayetteville, North Carolina, serves as headquarters for U.S. Army Special Operations Command. Highly trained units like the Green Berets and the Rangers are based there.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll will also be at Tuesday's event, along with service members, veterans and their families.
Trump has promoted the Army's anniversary as a reason to hold a military parade in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, which is also his 79th birthday. Tanks and other vehicles will roll down city streets in a reminder of how the Republican president is reshaping the armed forces after returning to the White House this year.
Trump, who sees the military as a critical tool for domestic goals, has used the recent protests in Los Angeles as an opportunity to deploy the National Guard and U.S. Marines to quell disturbances that began as protests over immigration raids.
Trump has authorized the deployment of 4,000 National Guard soldiers to the city over the objections of Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom. About 700 Marines were also due to formally deploy to Los Angeles.
California sued Trump over the deployment, with the state attorney general arguing that the president had 'trampled' the state's sovereignty. California leaders accused Trump of fanning protesters' anger, leading crowds to block off a major freeway and set self-driving cars on fire.
'We're gonna have troops everywhere,' Trump said over the weekend. 'We're not going to let this happen to our country.'
Fort Bragg has been in the middle of a cultural tug-of-war over the military. It was named after a Confederate general, then renamed to Fort Liberty two years ago.
Hegseth brought back the Bragg name, but said it was being used to honor an Army paratrooper who served in World War II.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Globe and Mail
9 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
Donald Trump campaigned on eroding democracy. Now, he's just fulfilling his promises
In late May, the Trump administration started a fire. According to reporting by the Wall Street Journal, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller gave an address at the headquarters of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), where he told officials that federal agents need to 'just go out there and arrest illegal aliens.' U.S. President Donald Trump wanted to see, at minimum, 3,000 ICE arrests per day, and that wasn't going to happen if agents first developed target lists, presented warrants and the like. So Mr. Miller instructed ICE to go to places like Home Depot and swoop up as many illegal immigrants as possible. The fire took, of course. Over the weekend, people in L.A. took to the streets – with a few of them turning violent – to protest ICE raids and Mr. Trump's immigration policies more broadly. Though the majority of the protests were peaceful, a few clashes with police and cars set ablaze were all the pretext Mr. Trump needed to throw some kerosene on his fire: that is, to call in the National Guard, under a provision of the U.S. code that allows the President to do so to repel an invasion or suppress a rebellion, even though the protests were lawful and the situation was being managed by local forces. On Monday, the Trump administration mobilized more National Guard troops, as well as 700 marines. If the situation escalates further, Mr. Trump will likely invoke the Insurrection Act, which will empower troops to participate in civilian law enforcement (for now, they can only protect structures and personnel). The President has already used the word 'insurrectionists' to describe protesters on the ground in L.A., and has even gone so far as to muse about arresting the state's Democratic Governor, Gavin Newsom. The situation could explode suddenly – dramatically, catastrophically – which would give Mr. Trump further pretext to engage in his most authoritarian fantasies, which could even mean assuming federal control of the state or delaying future midterm elections. That would sound like a hysterical prediction if the U.S. government hadn't already enabled masked, plain-clothed agents to snatch people off the streets; if it wasn't trying to deport someone who is legally in the U.S. over a college newspaper op-ed; if it wasn't openly defying court orders; and if it wasn't musing about arresting political adversaries, planning a military parade for the President's birthday and – oh yeah – calling in the National Guard, over state objections, to quell dissent. When things are on fire, you can give yourself permission to do all sorts of things. That's exactly what the U.S. President is doing – and it's exactly what he promised. Opinion: For Trump, the L.A. protests are an opportunity to wield power and spread fear He said explicitly during the campaign that he would not hold back on sending troops to dismantle protests like he did following the death of George Floyd in 2020. 'Next time,' he told a crowd in 2023, 'I'm not waiting.' He spoke openly to Fox News back in October about using the National Guard or military to deal with 'the enemy from within.' Mr. Trump was frustrated in his first term by objections from then-defense secretary Mark T. Esper to having U.S. troops patrolling American streets, and he has been clear – both in his statements, and his appointments of only the most obsequious minions to his inner circle – that he won't be constrained this time. Nothing that leaks from Mr. Trump's lips is ever rhetorical. None of this should be a surprise. In fact, very little of what Mr. Trump has done in the first few months of his second term should come as a shock. He said he was going to implement tariffs, and he did. He said he was going to gut government agencies, and he has. These were never really threats. Threats offer an opportunity to change course; they warn of the consequences for failing to change an action or behaviour. But there was never an opportunity to redirect Mr. Trump. The President, who loves the idea of tariffs, was going to impose them one way or another – whether a trade deficit was real or imaginary, or whether Canada controlled the miniscule amount of fentanyl crossing the border or not. And so Mr. Trump invented an economic emergency, and did what he intended to all along. He's following the same course with the protests in L.A., which were fairly standard in terms of intensity before the President summoned the National Guard. Indeed, Mr. Trump's threats were actually promises; now, he's making good. So when the President says he will, for example, prosecute his political enemies, or seek out a third term, we'd be wise to see those not as threats, but as vows – ones that Mr. Trump will endeavour to keep.
Winnipeg Free Press
18 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Federal immigration raid at Omaha food production plant sparks protests
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Immigration authorities raided at least one Omaha food production plant Tuesday morning, inspiring some small protests, but details about how many workers were affected weren't immediately clear. Omaha police and the Douglas County sheriff said immigration officials had warned them about their plans, and their departments helped block off traffic around the neighborhood where many food production plants are located while U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers worked. ICE officials didn't immediately respond to questions. Meatpacking plants rely heavily on immigrant workers who are willing to do the physically demanding work. The industry has not yet been the focus of President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement efforts, but the administration has been intensifying its efforts in recent weeks. Trump called out the National Guard this week to respond to ongoing protests in Los Angeles over his immigration policies. In Omaha, a small group of people came out to protest the raids, and some of them even jumped on the front bumper of a vehicle to try to stop officers. Glenn Valley Foods officials didn't immediately respond to an inquiry from The Associated Press, but WOWT reported that CEO and owner Gary Rohwer said he wasn't made aware of the operation ahead of time and that there was no warrant. 'Of course not. It's a raid,' said Rohwer, whose company makes the Gary's QuickSteak brand of ready-to-grill steak. Federal agents entered the plant around 9 a.m. Tuesday with a list of 97 people they wanted to screen, Rohwer said. He said the company regularly checks the immigration status of employees with the federal E-Verify database. The raids prompted one Douglas County Commissioner to walk out in the middle of a meeting Tuesday to head down to the area he represents in southeast Omaha where the plants are located. Commissioner Roger Garcia and City Councilman Ron Hug both expressed concern about the impact of the raids on families. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. 'These actions are deeply harmful to the South Omaha community,' Hug said in a statement. 'Not only are they unjust and disruptive, but they also directly undermine the economic stability and growth of District 4 and the broader community.' Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hanson said his agency is 'not privy to the exact nature of the ICE operation' but that his agency is there to assist with assuring 'peace and safety' of everyone in the area. Asked when he learned of the operation, he said his department received 'respectful and ample notification.' He says he got the notification about a week ago.
Winnipeg Free Press
33 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Gabbard says AI is speeding up intel work, including the release of the JFK assassination files
WASHINGTON (AP) — Artificial intelligence is speeding up the work of America's intelligence services, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said Tuesday. Speaking to a technology conference, Gabbard said AI programs, when used responsibly, can save money and free up intelligence officers to focus on gathering and analyzing information. The sometimes slow pace of intelligence work frustrated her as a member of Congress, Gabbard said, and continues to be a challenge. AI can run human resource programs, for instance, or scan sensitive documents ahead of potential declassification, Gabbard said. Her office has released tens of thousands of pages of material related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and his brother, New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, on the orders of President Donald Trump. Experts had predicted the process could take many months or even years, but AI accelerated the work by scanning the documents to see if they contained any material that should remain classified, Gabbard said during her remarks at the Amazon Web Services Summit in Washington. 'We have been able to do that through the use of AI tools far more quickly than what was done previously — which was to have humans go through and look at every single one of these pages,' Gabbard said. The intelligence community already relies on many private-sector technologies, and Gabbard said she wants to expand that relationship instead of using federal resources to create expensive alternatives. 'How do we look at the available tools that exist — largely in the private sector — to make it so that our intelligence professionals, both collectors and analysts, are able to focus their time and energy on the things that only they can do,' she said. Wednesdays Columnist Jen Zoratti looks at what's next in arts, life and pop culture. Gabbard, who coordinates the work of 18 intelligence agencies, has vowed to shake up America's spy services. Since assuming her role this year, she has created a new task force to consider changes to agency operations as well as greater declassification. She also has fired two veteran intelligence officers because of perceived opposition to Trump, eliminated diversity, equity and inclusion programs and relocated the staff who prepare the President's Daily Brief to give her more direct control.
