D.C. Veterans Sit-In Protest Against Trump's Militarization of Cities Enters Second Week
A group of U.S. military veterans has staged a sit-in protest outside of Union Station in Washington, D.C. since last Monday, and they will not leave until the National Guard forces deployed in the capital by Donald Trump are withdrawn.
Calling the Guard presence on the streets of American cities a "military occupation," the group has posted content to social media several times a day about their demands and the response from both the National Guard and ICE. Multiple police agencies, including D.C. Metro Police, Amtrak Police, and even the DEA have also made appearances at the protest.
he protest of disruption has utilized several key tactics, including playing the speech by former Joint Chiefs Chairman, General Mark Milley, about the military's oath to the constitution and not to a man on repeat over and over again on loudspeakers for members of the Guard to hear. Milley's speech was specifically in response to Trump's demand for personal loyalty from troops.
The veterans are standing not just against Trump's authoritarianism in deploying the military against Americans, but also against the disrespect that this misuse shows to the troops themselves. Gordon pointed out that actions like these erode the public trust in the military, as Americans no longer see service members as people they can trust.
"The worst part is that the longer this goes on, the more degraded the people’s trust in their military becomes. And when the people stop trusting that the military is there to defend their rights, then the effectiveness of the military suffers," Gordon said. "So we are going to use the privilege this country has given us, as veterans, to stay in D.C. as a presence that we do not agree with what’s happening."
Tne member of the veteran protest is Bronze Star recipient Jay Carey, who made headlines last week for burning a flag outside the White House in protest of Trump's executive order seeking to penalize flag desecration in defiance of the Supreme Court's 1989 ruling that flag burning qualifies as protected free speech.
Carey was filmed being handcuffed and detained by Secret Service agents. Secret Service reported that Carey was being arrested for "igniting an object" and subsequently turned him over to the Park Police, who released him several hours later.
The protest comes amidst images being released on social media of National Guard troops playing football, picking up trash, and posing for selfies, apparently completely at a loss for things to do in the middle of the supposed crime-ridden hellscape of Washington, D.C. that Trump ordered them to clean up.
On Sunday, National Park Services nulled the permit for the veterans to set up tents in front of Union Station, forcing them to move to a location further away until the permit can be renewed Tuesday, due to Monday being a federal holiday. Despite this, the vets show no signs of leaving until National Guard stands down.
Trump has announced more upcoming deployments of the National Guard to Chicago and New York in an effort to crack down on crime, despite rates of violent crime falling to pre-pandemic levels all over the country.
