Last Updated on August 10, 2025 by ThePublic
In just his first five months back in office, Donald Trump has already launched 529 airstrikes, nearly matching Joe Biden’s total for his entire four-year term (555). The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) notes that the bulk of Trump’s strikes have pounded Yemen, killing hundreds of civilians, with others hitting Somalia, Syria, Iraq, and even Iran’s nuclear facilities. Trump’s second term military policy has been to remove restraints on airstrikes and raids, giving lower level commanders unprecedented freedom to act outside officially declared war zones.
This rapid escalation has occurred alongside another alarming trend, Trump’s open willingness to use the U.S. military on American soil. He has previously called for deploying active duty troops to quell protests and unrest, a move that would fundamentally erode the firewall between civilian life and military power in a democracy.
Now add to this mix Pete Hegseth, a Trump ally whose rhetoric makes clear his desire to take the reins of America’s armed forces and embrace a more aggressive, unapologetic use of military power, both abroad and potentially at home. Hegseth has built his political brand on valorizing force and framing military might as the central tool of American greatness.
When you combine:
- Record-breaking foreign bombing campaigns with loosened rules of engagement,
- A leadership faction eager to use the U.S. military domestically, and
- A defense chief-in-waiting whose worldview prioritizes force over diplomacy,
…you get a recipe for an authoritarian military state. This is not theoretical, it’s a clear trajectory. Civilian oversight weakens. Military power becomes normalized as a first response, not a last resort. And the distinction between external enemies and internal political opponents starts to blur.
History shows that when leaders combine unchecked military escalation abroad with threats to deploy that same force at home, democracies can slide quickly into something far darker. Trump’s current pace and posture are not just campaign bluster, they are the opening moves of a president comfortable using America’s military machine as a blunt instrument anywhere, against anyone, including his own citizens.
If left unchallenged, this shift could fundamentally redefine the relationship between the U.S. government, its military, and its people, transforming a nation founded on civilian rule into one where power ultimately rests in the hands of those who command the guns.