The DSR Network Trump's Military Make-Over Has Experts Worried and Enemies Celebrating
Oct 8, 2025
Rosa Brooks, a law professor at Georgetown University with expertise in civil-military relations, and David Sanger, a national security reporter for The New York Times, delve into alarming military shifts under Trump. They highlight the risks of using military rhetoric domestically and potentially authoritarian tactics. Discussions on global implications reveal that unpredictability may embolden rivals like China. The pair also caution about the impact on alliances and the need for future legal reforms to curb military power abuses.
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Domestic Military Use Is Being Reinterpreted
- The Trump administration is pushing to expand domestic use of U.S. military forces through reinterpretation of laws like the Insurrection Act and Posse Comitatus.
- Kori Schake warns courts may uphold broad executive latitude, making domestic military deployment genuinely dangerous.
Strategy Shift Breaks Existing Force Structure
- Narrowing defense priorities to domestic and hemispheric threats clashes with the power-projection force the U.S. built.
- Kori Schake notes this mismatch will drive major funding and force-structure consequences.
Homeland Focus Plus Selective Foreign Strikes
- The administration mixes more homeland-focus rhetoric with selective overseas uses of force that avoid retaliation risk.
- David Sanger argues this abandons prior focus on China/Russia while still permitting one-off strikes abroad.