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How Trump amassed a red-state army in the nation's capital -- and could do so again
Source: Washington Post
How Trump amassed a red-state army in the nation’s capital — and could do so again
By Aaron C. Davis
10/1/2020, 7:13:36 p.m.
The call that came into state capitals stunned governors and their National Guard commanders: The Pentagon wanted thousands of citizen soldiers airlifted to the nation’s capital immediately to help control crowds outside the White House in the wake of the death of George Floyd.
Presidents have routinely activated Guard troops to fight foreign enemies, and in extraordinary circumstances have federalized them to quell civil unrest, using the vast power of the commander in chief.
But the June 1 appeal to states was different. President Trump was drawing instead on an obscure law, changed after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that made it easier for governors to voluntarily send guardsmen across state lines for counterterrorism missions. His action was not an order but a request, essentially inviting states to augment the D.C. National Guard, which he controls, in a potential clash with civilian protesters.
The request had the effect of cleaving state militias along partisan lines, according to interviews and internal Guard documents. While red states jumped to answer the president’s call, governors and Guard commanders in blue states were incredulous. The result was a deployment to the nation’s capital that military historians say appears to have been without precedent: Over 98 percent of the 3,800 troops that arrived in the District came from states with Republican governors.
In a secure video conference that day with Guard leaders from across the country, Maj. Gen. David Baldwin, head of the California National Guard, questioned the need for the massive deployment. Baldwin, who has led the force under multiple Democratic governors, said the situation in D.C. appeared no more urgent than that in California, where his troops were already stretched thin by dozens of planned protests.
“I love you like a brother,” Baldwin said to the top D.C. Guard official on the call, according to three people who were listening, “but f--- this, I have other things to worry about,” he said, before dropping off the line.
-snip-
By Aaron C. Davis
10/1/2020, 7:13:36 p.m.
The call that came into state capitals stunned governors and their National Guard commanders: The Pentagon wanted thousands of citizen soldiers airlifted to the nation’s capital immediately to help control crowds outside the White House in the wake of the death of George Floyd.
Presidents have routinely activated Guard troops to fight foreign enemies, and in extraordinary circumstances have federalized them to quell civil unrest, using the vast power of the commander in chief.
But the June 1 appeal to states was different. President Trump was drawing instead on an obscure law, changed after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that made it easier for governors to voluntarily send guardsmen across state lines for counterterrorism missions. His action was not an order but a request, essentially inviting states to augment the D.C. National Guard, which he controls, in a potential clash with civilian protesters.
The request had the effect of cleaving state militias along partisan lines, according to interviews and internal Guard documents. While red states jumped to answer the president’s call, governors and Guard commanders in blue states were incredulous. The result was a deployment to the nation’s capital that military historians say appears to have been without precedent: Over 98 percent of the 3,800 troops that arrived in the District came from states with Republican governors.
In a secure video conference that day with Guard leaders from across the country, Maj. Gen. David Baldwin, head of the California National Guard, questioned the need for the massive deployment. Baldwin, who has led the force under multiple Democratic governors, said the situation in D.C. appeared no more urgent than that in California, where his troops were already stretched thin by dozens of planned protests.
“I love you like a brother,” Baldwin said to the top D.C. Guard official on the call, according to three people who were listening, “but f--- this, I have other things to worry about,” he said, before dropping off the line.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/how-trump-amassed-a-red-state-army-in-the-nations-capital--and-could-do-so-again/2020/10/01/2f10e17c-f9d6-11ea-a275-1a2c2d36e1f1_story.html
