Weekly Spotlight: An Increasingly Real Threat
On Monday, President Trump signed an order to send the National Guard and other federal agents to Memphis, Tennessee, again under the guise of a crime emergency — and with the approval of Tennessee Governor Bill Lee.
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EXECUTIVE POWER GRAB
Trump orders federal takeover of Memphis – what happens now
(Illustration: Ren Velez/ POGO)
On Monday, President Trump signed an order to send the National Guard and other federal agents to Memphis, Tennessee, again under the guise of a crime emergency — and with the approval of Tennessee Governor Bill Lee. (It’s important to note Memphis’s political position in the state.) While the Governor’s approval complicates the ability to enforce the guardrails that would otherwise prevent this blatant abuse of federal power, it does not change the plain fact that the military should not police civilians. The dangers are grave and the costs are exorbitant. We cannot accept this as normal. Congress must act urgently and decisively to protect you from the increasingly real threat of a militarized America.
- POGO’s Virginia Burger provided testimony at a critical congressional hearing this week on the militarization of Washington. Read her testimony on the grave dangers and egregious costs of these deployments.
- In the news: POGO’s Greg Williams speaks to WGN on what we can parse about the president’s plans to send the National Guard to Chicago. (Timestamp: 2:22)
Two strikes
Less than two weeks after the lethal strike on a Venezuelan boat that killed 11 people and stunned the world, the United States carried out a military strike on a second boat, this time killing three people. The president has claimed that the people were “positively identified, extraordinarily violent drug trafficking cartels and narcoterrorists” and shared video footage of the strike. But neither these claims nor the footage justifies such an extreme escalation. As we said earlier this month, the standard response to maritime drug trafficking has been interdiction and apprehension, not destruction — and the administration has not articulated any legal justification for its use of lethal force. Moreover, both strikes occurred without any authorization from Congress, which is illegal. President Trump campaigned on the promise of no new wars — but these attacks are outright acts of war, and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has warned that he will respond in kind. Congress must act urgently to prevent any escalation and seize back its war powers at once.
- Yesterday, Senators Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) filed a joint resolution calling for an end to these strikes and any other uses of military force that have not been authorized by Congress.
- Pentagon lawyers and officials are reportedly raising concerns over the legality of the administration’s strikes and the implications for the military personnel who carried out the orders and could be held liable.
- The House’s version of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act includes a bipartisan amendment to repeal two Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMFs) pertaining to Iraq. If also passed by the Senate, the amendment would be a significant win and a step in the right direction — but Congress will have to do a lot more to protect its war powers.
- FACT SHEET Reclaiming Congress’s War Power: Congress can’t give up this key power or responsibility, writes POGO’s Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette.
