Behind the shadowy network pushing Trump to deploy the military domestically

Emails reveal some of the most notorious organizers backing President Donald Trump’s plan to militarize US soil were Chistian nationalists comprising the controversial Project 2025, according to the Phoenix New Times.

Writer Beau Hodai called the Border Security Workgroup’s meeting the “insurrectionist brunch,” and it went down before the 2024 election, when a cadre of MAGA enthusiasts plotted ways to use the military domestically.

“Emails show there were more Project 2025 brunches at the Army Navy Country Club, and the group also received continued guidance from Project 2025 leadership … relating to this ongoing guidance and development of hybrid military/domestic law enforcement plans,” reported Hodai. “… To be very clear: Documentation shows that the group envisioned … militarized ‘border security’ operations taking place in all 50 states, not just at the border.”

“Many leading contributors to the project were unabashedly Christian nationalist, and entities of the anti-immigrant network founded by white nationalist John Tanton were among the project’s leading contributors,” said Hodai. “An examination of groups and the individuals involved in the world of Project 2025 also reveals a deep culture of anti-democratic actors who have long worked to restrict voter access, and/or have taken part in efforts to overthrow elections and undermine election systems. As such, Project 2025 was a synthesis of these pernicious threads of Christian nationalism, white nationalism and those who would seek to seize political power — seemingly at any cost.”

In 2024, current and former Trump advisor Jeffrey Bossert Clark was already urging participants to “become experts” on sections of federal law codified under the Insurrection Act and to “bone up on Section 253 of the Insurrection Act,” which states that “the President, by using the militia or the armed forces, or both, or by any other means, shall take such measures as he considers necessary to suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy.”

“A draft policy paper produced by the group toward the end of 2024 recommended plans to facilitate the deployment of up to one million Army soldiers … on American soil, noting that the president would need to declare an emergency to initiate such a deployment,” said Hodai. “Trump did just that soon after taking office, allowing him to deploy troops at the border, and he has threatened, attempted or executed military deployments to a number of cities.”

According to emails and reports, The Border Security Workgroup also contemplated “counter-intelligence” work to combat “insider threats” working “to subvert the President’s plan.”

“Records show the group considered using a variety of means to target a number of different groups, including certain non-governmental organizations, government agencies, judicial districts and a number of states or cities governed by the Democratic Party,” said Hodai. “They also contemplated targeting college students who were protesting Israel’s actions in Gaza. In a July 2024 email, group member Collin Agee — the “senior Army operations advisor” to the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency — railed against immigrants who, “under the guise of free speech,” protested against Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.

Members of the work group have filed out in different directions inside the Trump administration, and many of the group's policies have been implemented in Trump’s first year in office.

“While many things called for by the Border Security Workgroup have transpired, events that have unfolded during this Trump term have not perfectly mirrored its plans,” said Hodai. “The Trump administration’s many overreaches have prompted spirited and vociferous pushback. Several states, including California, have successfully blocked Trump’s domestic military ambitions in the courts. Trump’s ‘surges’ of thuggish masked immigration agents to Democratic-led cities — which have resulted in the shooting deaths of two American citizens — have sparked a backlash that has tanked Republicans’ approval numbers and resulted, at least for now, in a drawdown of those hamfisted deployments.”

But Trump and his faithful are persistent opportunists, said Hodai.

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