'Unhinged Despotism': Critics Slam Trump's Willingness to Invoke Insurrection Act

President Donald Trump on Monday said he was open to invoking the Insurrection Act to put down future civil unrest in US cities, drawing sharp condemnation from legal experts and other critics, some of whom accused the president of trying to foment disorder that would justify his authoritarian actions.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office about his deployment of federal forces to Portland, Oregon a day after a federal judge blocked his move to send hundreds of National Guard troops to the peaceful city, Trump said that he did not believe it was necessary to invoke the Insurrection Act yet, but “if I had to enact it, I’d do it, if people were being killed and courts were holding us up, or governors or mayors were holding us up.”

Courts, governors, and mayors have all resisted Trump's efforts to invade Democrat-controlled cities under the pretext of combating crime and unauthorized immigration.

“You look at what’s happening with Portland over the years, it’s a burning hellhole,” Trump baselessly claimed. “And then you have a judge that lost her way that tries to pretend that there’s no problem.”

Trump was referring to US District Judge Karin Immergut—whom he appointed during his first term—after she found that his reasoning regarding his administration's response to protests at a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Portland were “untethered to facts."

The Insurrection Act of 1807 is a federal law that allows the president to deploy the US military domestically or federalize state National Guard troops to put down any unrest the White House deems to be an uprising.

Trump said Monday that he believes there is a "criminal insurrection" in Portland.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller also contended Monday that there is a "legal insurrection" being committed by judges who rule against the Trump administration. Miller said these judges are attacking "the laws and Constitution of the United States"

Some social media users pointed out that Trump was impeached for a second time for his role in inciting the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday sent a memo to Democratic Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek announcing the administration's federalization of 200 National Guard troops “to protect US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other US government personnel.”

The memo cited Trump's deployment earlier this year of 4,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles—a move that a federal judge ruled was illegal and portends the creation of “a national police force with the president as its chief.”

Kotek responded to the memo by noting that "there is no insurrection in Portland. No threat to national security. No fires, no bombs, no fatalities due to civil unrest. The only threat we face is to our democracy—and it is being led by President Donald Trump.”

"The only threat we face is to our democracy—and it is being led by President Donald Trump.”

According to The Washington Post, approximately 100 California National Guard troops were sent to Portland after midnight Sunday and around 100 more arrived later in the day. Local leaders and residents said there is no reason for the invasion.

As the Post reported:

Residents of Portland responded to Trump’s description of their city with a mix of indignation and bemusement. “WarRavagedPortland” quickly became a popular social media hashtag on photos and video showing bustling farmers markets, peaceful parks, and sparkling vistas of the Willamette River.

Trump's remarks followed his speech to hundreds of US generals and admirals last week, in which he declared that the country is “under invasion from within” and that the military leaders should use American cities as “training grounds” to target domestic “enemies."

The president's remarks drew warnings of encroaching fascism as his administration expands its invasion and occupation of US communities, from Washington, DC to Chicago to Portland. On Saturday, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) asserted that "Trump’s troops are deliberately attacking peaceful protesters to incite violence."

Writing for Just Security, former US Navy Undersecretary Janine Davidson argued Monday that Trump's recent designation of left-wing protesters as "insurrectionists" had "crossed a clear red line in civil-military relations."

"It is the Insurrection Act he seems keen to invoke, which would give him dictatorial-like powers like we’ve never seen used before in this country—not even in the Civil War," Davidson said of Trump. "The Civil War was a war between states with militaries fighting on battlefields. A Trump-led deployment of federalized guard and active-duty troops to quell a fabricated insurrection inside American cities should only be understood as war on the American people."