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Blue States Should Seriously Consider ALL Options to Disband Their State's National Guard Units.

Although every state has one, there is no federal requirement that they do.

And since Trump is repeatedly violating federal law by using such units to be deployed for domestic "law enforcement" duties, the governors of California, Illinois, New York and Pennsylvania (the largest states with Democratic governors) should consult with their AGs and legislatures and disband their state's National Guard units as soon as possible.

Since states have rarely needed their Guard units to quell domestic disturbances, those states can easily replace the duties of the Guard to help with natural disasters by other means.

That might not stop Trump from federalizing, say, Ohio's National Guard or South Carolina's. But Republican voters in such Red States will tire of Trump's tractics pretty quick due to the strain such deployments put on Guard members and their families when Guard members are sent to San Francisco or Seattle to plant flowers and pick up trash as they were doing in D.C.

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3Dogmatic · 46-50

National guard is regularly used domestically. It’s in the name…

beckyromero · 36-40, F

@3Dogmatic

Regularly used "domestically" to help out with natural disasters! (or in the case of a terrorist attack, such as on 9-11)

Not for domestic law enforcement best suited for the local police!

3Dogmatic · 46-50

@beckyromero that is in their job description as well. The guard was used extensively on the southern border to augment the CBP officers.

beckyromero · 36-40, F

@3Dogmatic

Control of the borders is the federal government's job.

That's not the same as accompanying ICE troops to a Home Depot, picking up trash on the National Mall or arresting some gang-banger in Denver.

3Dogmatic · 46-50

@beckyromero All types of resources including State troopers, air Marshalls, even game wardens are on the southern border. The accompanying ICE is a result of the number of assaults on the federal officers who are doing their jobs. It is ugly and should never have gotten as bad as it did, but it has to get fixed.

beckyromero · 36-40, F

@3Dogmatic

Let Congress hire more federal Border Patrol agents.

If you haven't notced, the Republicans control both the House and the Senate and the White House.

And an Air Marshal's job is to protect both the crew and passengers on commercial flights from the threat of hijackers and terrorists. Not riding around on a jeep near the Rio Grande.

3Dogmatic · 46-50

@beckyromero they are working on that, but the hiring and training takes time, and the guard is being used as they are in war, as augments. It’s not a huge thing

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3Dogmatic · 46-50

@beckyromero have you been to the southern border recently? I have, and it is a HUGE difference than it was just a year ago. As to the wall, it was immediately halted when Biden took office and the materials that were already on site were sold as scrap metal. The wall is being built currently, but the news isn’t interested in covering it, because it is working. South Texas is a different place for the better than it was this time last year.

beckyromero · 36-40, F

@3Dogmatic

You are deflecting from the original topic: Trump's use of state National Guard units for domestic law enforcement duties far from either foreign border.

3Dogmatic · 46-50

@beckyromero no, like I said earlier, they have been used for domestic law enforcement plenty of times before. It is part of the job description. They have been mobilized by governors and the president before.

beckyromero · 36-40, F

@3Dogmatic

like I said earlier, they have been used for domestic law enforcement plenty of times before

Plenty? When? During the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles? That was last century.

3Dogmatic · 46-50

@beckyromero last time was in 2020 at the governor’s request during the George Floyd riots. Minneapolis, Portland and Washington DC all had national guard deployed there.

3Dogmatic · 46-50

@beckyromero a quick search found that 30,000 guard troops were activated and deployed to these riots. That is substantial.

beckyromero · 36-40, F

Get your facts straight!

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz activated the Minnesota National Guard for unrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, not Trump. It was not a federalized issue. Nor in any other state which had protests. Only in D.C. (not a state; the President controls the Guard there).

Governors control their own National Guard. They don't need a president's authorization to use their own state's Guard.

The last time a president overrode a decision by a governor NOT to deploy federal troops in that governor's state was 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson used the Guard to protect freedom march protestors in Alabama.

3Dogmatic · 46-50

@beckyromero it’s obvious you don’t understand how the national guard operates. They serve at the direction of the State’s Governors AND/OR the President. They are doing their jobs. Nothing illegal here is being done.

beckyromero · 36-40, F

@3Dogmatic

It's obvious you don't understand that a state does not need to operate a National Guard.

3Dogmatic · 46-50

@beckyromero yet they all have them.

beckyromero · 36-40, F

@3Dogmatic

And I repeat: a state does not need to operate a National Guard.

I'm offering a solution to Blue State governors to stop Trump's abuse of them - and for those states to redirect the funds they use for their Guard to state police forces (to deal with domestic disturbances) and civil natural disaster relief forces (the most common use of their Guards).

3Dogmatic · 46-50

@beckyromero you are correct, a state is not federally mandated to have a guard unit. However, the state then loses out on federal resources for emergencies and disasters. Hence why the states and territories all have national guard units and will likely always have them. There is also no abuse of the National Guard happening.

beckyromero · 36-40, F

@3Dogmatic

There is also no abuse of the National Guard happening

That's your opinion. Tens if not hundreds of millions of Americans would disagree.

3Dogmatic · 46-50

@beckyromero and that’s the beauty on the US, everyone gets to have their own opinion and vote.