The rhetoric was mind-numbing, but it was also inappropriate: The in-person audience included several hundred highly decorated generals and admirals. There was no reason to treat these men and women as if they were little more than sycophantic partisan supporters waiting for fresh red meat.

But making matters far more serious was Trump’s pitch on using the U.S. military on American soil. NPR summarized:

President Trump defended the use of U.S. troops in American cities and told top U.S. commanders that the military would be used against the ‘enemy within.’ ... ‘This is going to be a big thing for the people in this room, because it’s the enemy from within, and we have to handle it before it gets out of control,’ Trump told those gathered for the highly unusual event at Quantico, Va. ‘It won’t get out of control once you’re involved at all.’

“The ones that are run by the radical left Democrats, what they’ve done to San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, they’re very unsafe places. And we’re going to straighten them out one by one. And this is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room,” he told military leaders. “That’s a war, too. It’s a war from within.”

Trump: "The ones that are run by radical left Democrats -- what they've done to San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles. They're very unsafe places & we're gonna straighten them out one by one. This is gonna be a major part for some people in this room. That's a war too. It's war from within"

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-09-30T14:13:18.668Z

As part of the same argument, the president said he’s told Hegseth that the U.S. “should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military.”

Trump: "San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles...That's a war too. It's a war from within...I told Pete, we should use some of these cities as training grounds for our military — national guard, but military. We're going into Chicago very soon."

— The Bulwark (@thebulwark.com) 2025-09-30T15:19:27.239Z

After troop deployments in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., as well as announced deployments to Memphis and Portland, Oregon, many raised concerns about the president’s willingness — and apparent eagerness — to use military force against Americans. After Trump’s speech to generals and admirals, those concerns deserve to be a whole lot louder.