This morning, President Trump and Secretary Hegseth spoke to 800 high-ranking generals and admirals who had been called away from their stations around the world. At the meeting, Trump said he’d told Hegseth he should use American cities as “training grounds” for the military. 1/6

This morning’s spectacle at Quantico is a masterclass in narcissism and waste. Hegseth forced hundreds of our nation’s top GOFOs to abandon their commands to sit through his juvenile pep talk and an incoherent rant. All while the governement barrels toward a shutdown. Pathetic.

Today’s ruling underscores a fundamental principle: our military is not a domestic police force. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Tyrants govern through fear. Dictators take their power from the acquiescence of the good people who don't speak out. It is our obligation as citizens to set aside fear and take a step forward not a step back.

Spot on, @govpritzker.illinois.gov

A new executive order turns the National Guard into his personal police force. @janessagoldbeck.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/janessag...

Issued Today: Trump’s New End Run Around the Insurrection Act open.substack.com/pub/janessag...

“I don’t want to speculate what’s in his brain, but just taking the evidence as it is — what he said during the Black Lives Matter protests; the fact that he’s taking this maximalist approach to deploying troops—he is eager to create escalatory situations.” www.salon.com/2025/08/20/v...

Janessa Goldbeck, a Marine Corps veteran, is now speaking for @vetvoicefoundation.bsky.social. Refusing to act on climate change hands U.S. rivals an advantage, she said.

Trump Sends Troops Into DC + Trump Politicizing the Military: My Conversation with Chuck Todd: open.spotify.com/episode/2Wqh...

THREAD: This morning, President Trump and members of his cabinet announced a set of sweeping, unprecedented, and unwarranted actions to impose federal control over local policing in Washington, D.C.

Military deployments: coming soon to a city near you. This is all part of a disturbing pattern. Trump is remaking the military as a personal tool of control, overriding the core principles of civilian oversight. And he won't stop with DC. www.politico.com/news/2025/08...

Military voters face mounting barriers. In testimony at Sen. Padilla’s hearing, Vet Voice Foundation CEO @janessagoldbeck.bsky.social put it clearly: “If a service member votes on time, their vote should count. Period.”

The Trump Administration Is Coming for Your Ballot open.substack.com/pub/janessag...

If you actually want to stay out of forever wars, you need strong diplomacy - not just military force. GENERAL MATTIS: "If you don't fund the State Department fully, then I need to buy more ammunition ultimately. So I think –it's a cost benefit ratio." www.c-span.org/clip/senate-...

🚨BREAKING: The backlash to the public lands sell-off has reached critical mass. Sen. Steve Daines now says he has the votes in the Senate to strip the sell-off language altogether. At least five House members are on the record opposing, enough to tank the bill in the House.

Public lands belong to all of us! Call the Senate at (202) 224-3121 and tell Senator Mike Lee to take a hike. Not one acre. Not now. Not ever. #PublicLandsInPublicHands

🚨Veterans, hunters, & public land defenders forced Senator Mike Lee's public lands sell-off scheme into the spotlight. That pressure made a difference - but Lee’s not done. He may still try to slip revised sell-off language into this same bill. Stay vigilant. x.com/AndrewDeside...

The Byrd Rule, Public Lands Sell-Off, and What Comes Next substack.com/@janessagold...

Today’s Supreme Court ruling in United States v. Skrmetti is not just a blow to transgender youth in Tennessee. It is part of a larger erosion of personal liberty in America.

🚨 There’s a lot of horrific news out of Washington right now—but you might have missed this: Senate Republicans just introduced a plan to sell off 120 million acres of our public lands. Let me break down what’s in the bill and why it’s a full-scale land grab. 🧵

UPDATE: It gets worse. The updated legislative language makes over 250 MILLION ACRES of public land available for sell-off.

This would be the largest public lands sell-off in modern U.S. history and it's happening with no hearings, no debate, and no public input. See what public lands would be available for sale: www.wilderness.org/articles/med...

🚨 There’s a lot of horrific news out of Washington right now—but you might have missed this: Senate Republicans just introduced a plan to sell off 120 million acres of our public lands. Let me break down what’s in the bill and why it’s a full-scale land grab. 🧵

Well said. Worth a read

When presidents turn soldiers into political props, it’s not strength — it’s the beginning of authoritarian rule. We must draw the line now, before it’s too late. My latest, on Substack: open.substack.com/pub/janessag...

<Thread> I figure I need to explain how extreme and irresponsible is the June 7 Memorandum federalizing the National Guard and authorizing regular armed forces. Those saying anything in support of this action may not realize what they’ve gotten into. (It will also escalate from here.) Preview⤵️

In short: don’t let the absence of the words “Insurrection Act” fool you. Trump has authorized the deployment of troops anywhere in the country where protests against ICE activity might occur. That is a huge red flag for democracy in the United States. 19/19

OK, I know more about the CA case and we have more information on the deployments coming out, so a few thoughts. 1. This is a massive overreach of POTUS authority. Using Section 12406 to federalize/deploy military forces w/out also invoking the Insurrection Act is literally unprecedented. 1/

🧵1/ Donald Trump is sending National Guard troops into California—over the objection of the governor—to crack down on immigration protests. It’s a deliberate misuse of military power. And it demands public scrutiny. 👇

Civil unrest should be handled by civilian law enforcement except in the most extreme situations. Soldiers are trained to fight and destroy an enemy; they aren’t trained to safely handle and deescalate civil unrest situations. 10/19 www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/do...

The memorandum says that the Guard will be protecting ICE personnel and federal property. As a practical matter, this will almost certainly involve serving basic police functions, such as physical crowd control, that the military normally isn’t allowed to perform. 9/19

But it would be a mistake to focus too much on which statutory power is being used here. What matters it that Trump is federalizing the Guard for the purpose of policing Americans’ protest activity. That’s dangerous for both public safety and democracy. 8/19

Previous presidents have used this authority to call up Guard forces *in order to deploy them under the Insurrection Act.* 10 USC 12406 has not historically been treated or used as an independent authority. Trump’s move is vulnerable to legal challenge on that ground alone. 7/19

Trump is instead relying on a statute, 10 USC 12406, that allows the president to federalize the Guard when there is a rebellion against the authority of the U.S. government or when “the President is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.” 6/19

Invoking the Insurrection Act, however, would come with significant political and legal blowback. It hasn’t been used since 1992, when California’s governor requested deployment to help quell LA riots after a jury acquitted police officers who beat Rodney King. 5/19

Ordinarily using federal troops (including federalized National Guard forces) to suppress civil unrest would be illegal under the Posse Comitatus Act. But Congress can legislate exceptions. The relevant exception here is the Insurrection Act. 4/19 www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

To back up: Presidents have deployed troops for purposes of quelling unrest or executing the law only 30 times in U.S. history. The Brennan Center has published a guide compiling and annotating those instances. 3/19 www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

That’s alarming enough. But Trump has also authorized deployment of troops anywhere in the country where protests against ICE are occurring or are likely to occur, even if they are entirely peaceful. That is unprecedented and a clear abuse of the law. 2/19

Trump has federalized at least 2,000 National Guard forces and reportedly plans to deploy troops to Los Angeles over Governor Newsom’s objections. If that happens, it will be the first time since 1965 that a president has sent troops into a state without a state request. 1/19

🚨NEW: VoteVets slams decision to strip Harvey Milk’s name from Navy ship. “This isn’t just offensive—it’s a calculated act of disrespect.” It's not about tradition. It’s about forcing out those who don’t fit Hegseth’s 1980s action figure fantasy of service. FULL STATEMENT ⬇️

NEW: VoteVets Action Fund will host a town hall with Pete Buttigieg in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It will be an opportunity for Iowans - including Veterans and Military Families - to come together to discuss the recent wave of policy decisions that have negatively impacted Americans.

Marine Corps Veteran Janessa Goldbeck, CEO of Vet Voice Foundation, is sounding the alarm: The SAVE Act would make it harder for Troops, disabled Veterans, and military families to vote—by requiring in-person proof most can’t access. This isn’t security. It’s voter suppression.

Join me live with my friend @janessagoldbeck.bsky.social and San Antonio Mayoral candidate Gina Ortiz Jones for @votevets.org www.youtube.com/live/ZisBM1I...

I’m not going to share the Noem video. But it is a case study in the sort of dehumanization and bigotry that has led to even worse horrors throughout history. We should all be ashamed that this is being done in our name.

Trump is repeating all the mistakes of the past 35 years as well as amplifying those mistakes in new and dangerous ways. His approach delays the possibility of peace between Russia and Ukraine and endangers the U.S. | The Perils of “Russia First” www.foreignaffairs.com/russia/peril...

Top U.S. officials used disappearing Signal messages to discuss sensitive military ops—no records, no oversight, no accountability, and certainly no regard for troops currently in harms way. Why aren’t Hegseth and Waltz under investigation? Where’s the FBI? Where’s the accountability?

1/🚨 BIG WIN for workers, veterans, and military families! 🚨 www.politico.com/news/2025/03...