President Donald Trump isn’t simply politicizing the army and forcing Nationwide Guard members from their properties, jobs, and households for his fascist shows of energy—he’s eroding public respect and assist for individuals who serve.
Inside Nationwide Guard assessments obtained by The Washington Publish admitted the plain: Their deployment to Washington, D.C., at Trump’s path was perceived as “leveraging fear,” driving a “wedge between citizens and the military,” and selling a way of “shame” amongst troops and veterans. None of that ought to shock anybody. Social media has already been full of movies mocking Guard patrols as glorified babysitters for brunch crowds compelled to choose up trash to cross the time. And for all of Trump’s bravado, Guard members are usually not skilled cops. This was by no means about public security. It was political theater for the MAGA trustworthy.
Ari Moulitsas, son of Each day Kos founder Markos Moulitsas, within the California Nationwide Guard serving to Altadena get better from devastating wildfires in January 2025.
For me, this isn’t only a political subject. It’s private. A lot of you realize of my army service, of which I’m fiercely proud. That satisfaction solely deepened when my son Ari joined the California Nationwide Guard proper out of highschool. He’s already performed a tour of responsibility in Kuwait, with extra stints in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. However none of that in comparison with his service when the wildfires ravaged Los Angeles in January and his unit was deployed to Altadena, a hard-hit center class neighborhood with many Black and Latino residents.
The Guard saved looters out of the burn zone, but additionally had the agonizing process of preserving residents from checking on their properties and pets, or retrieving important medicines. My son, fluent in Spanish and blessed with a peacemaker’s nature, shortly turned indispensable. He calmed individuals in disaster, helped determined households, and earned a lot respect that he nonetheless volunteers with a neighborhood assist group 3 times every week, driving an hour every solution to preserve serving that neighborhood.
When Trump despatched the Nationwide Guard into Los Angeles in June to assist the Division of Homeland Safety suppress residents as a part of his mass deportation push, residents took to a neighborhood Altadena Fb group—to not protest the Guard, however to defend my son and his unit. One neighbor known as him “a blessing to all.” One other described him as “an angel among us.” Others wrote, “He was so understanding and helpful. What an amazing human,” and “Ari, you’ve been such an amazing help to the community between keeping our homes safe after the fire, and now volunteering your time. Thanks for reminding us that among all the bad in the world… there are still good people in the world that will go out of their way to help their fellow human.”
Dozens of feedback echoed the identical theme: gratitude not only for my son’s compassion, however for what his service represented—a guardsman who was there to guard, to assist, and to face with the neighborhood in its hour of want.
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After which Trump trashed all of it in a single day. I do know firsthand that his posturing has wrecked morale. Folks in my son’s unit are quitting. Their annual coaching was canceled whereas they sat idle, props in a presidential photograph op, their readiness degraded. And I didn’t want Washington Publish articles to inform me that Guard members are being mocked and insulted within the nation’s capital. In fact they’re. However they by no means volunteered to be solid because the strongman’s backdrop.
Trump has tarnished numerous establishments; this one simply cuts deeper. As a result of when he corrodes respect for the Nationwide Guard, he’s not simply cheapening a logo. He’s undermining the service and sacrifice of actual individuals, like my son, who joined to guard and serve their communities—to not be conscripted into the political theater of an aspiring tyrant.
