The president raised his controversial use of the military for law enforcement, telling military leaders that an executive order he signed in August would help the military “quell civil disturbances” and handle “the enemy within.”  

“Last month, I signed an executive order to provide training for a quick reaction force that can help quell civil disturbances,” Mr. Trump said. “This is gonna be a big thing for the people in this room, because it’s the enemy from within and we have to handle it before it gets out of control. It won’t get out of control.” 

In August, Mr. Trump signed an executive order directing the defense secretary to ensure that each state’s National Guard is resourced, trained, organized and available to help in “quelling civil disturbances.” It also directed the defense secretary to designate a number of each state’s National Guard to be available for this purpose. 

The president has sent the military into Washington, D.C., and plans to deploy the National Guard to Portland to curb crime, though neither the district nor Portland has asked for troops to help with law enforcement. He said to the military leaders that the cities could function as “training grounds” for troops: “I told Pete, we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military. National Guard, but our military. Because we’re going into Chicago very soon. That’s a big city with an incompetent governor.”

Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said in a statement that Mr. Trump’s remarks “offered no strategy, no operational guidance, and no plan to address real threats.” 

“His reckless suggestion that American cities be used as ‘training grounds’ for U.S. troops is a dangerous assault on our democracy, treating our own communities as war zones and our citizens as enemies,” Durbin said.