Is President Trump working to build his own personal army?
By Amy Goodman and Radley Balko, Democracy Now!
Investigative reporter Radley Balko responds to Trump’s new executive order for a “standing National Guard quick reaction force” that the president can deploy at will. Trump has “always expressed envy for dictators and authoritarians overseas who have forces that they can deploy to do their own sort of personal bidding, whether it’s putting down protests or going after political opponents,” says Balko, who calls the order “a really dangerous development.”

Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET. Subscribe to our Daily Email Digest: https://democracynow.org/subscribe
Recent Posts
Bases Without Names: How Governments Rebrand the U.S. Military Presence
September 18, 2026
Take Action Now Across Asia, Europe and the Middle East, governments use an expanding vocabulary to describe sites that accommodate U.S. troops,…
Getting Into ‘Good Trouble’ Over Arc de Trump
September 17, 2026
Take Action Now A retired Army colonel flew in from Hawaii to make sure Trump’s arch doesn’t go up quietlyBy Jonathan Capehart, Substack On the…
AIPAC’s Network Has Already Spent $67.2 Million to Shape the Midterm Elections
September 17, 2026
Take Action Now The giant influx from American Israel Public Affairs Committee PACs is a case study in money distorting politics.By Derek Seidman,…
Ed Sheeran’s Craven “Neutrality” Is a Watershed Moment for Mainstreaming Palestine Solidarity
September 16, 2026
Take Action Now Ed Sheeran’s entire tour quitting in solidarity with Palestine and Macklemore proves the logic of BDS.By Natasha Lennard, The…




