President Donald Trump spoke to soldiers at the U.S. Army base Fort Bragg in North Carolina on Tuesday where he urged National Guard soldiers on the ground in California to boo the media and protesters.
Many who saw the video experienced a visceral reaction or expressed downright fear.
"Pondering Politics" host Jessiah Eberlan posted, "Of all the insane s--t we’ve seen from Trump, this is among the most viscerally disturbing. US troops celebrating domestic deployment of marines and booing the media? Big f----ing yikes!"
Politico analyst Marco Frieri asked, "Why the hell are troops booing the media? This is a dangerous politicization of the armed forces."
"All week I’ve had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. This clip in particular is so dark. Like we’re in a very scary place rn," remarked one individual on X after seeing a clip of the speech.
"It's genuinely f---ing appalling that he goads members of the military into booing their former Commander in Chief," said another. "Staggering lack of professionalism from the troops and flagrant disrespect of our country and the oaths they swore."
Another individual asked, "Who is clamoring for this?" They also questioned when the Trump administration would help "regular people" as he promised last year.
X user Stefanie Hane thinks Trump is "still bugged by tons of brave news crews covering bone spurs."
Litigator Don Dechert called it all "truly terrifying. Besides the use of troops (or Polizei or whatnot) as stage props, I initially thought troops applauding I could dismiss as bad orders, echoing Ollie North's idea that [Ronald] Reagan could order him to stand on his head. But the later clip of them booing...that's line crossing and transgressive in a way I cannot quite put to words."
Others echoed the sentiment that something like this is typical of Trump, but that the soldiers behind him were so willing to follow him was disturbing.
"It’s that they did it on their own that scares me," said one man on Bluesky.
Ethicist Melissa Vanden Bout noted that she was a Navy brat and was "trying to imagine a president or any dignitary coming on base, targeting a part of our country and named electeds for derision like this, and service members *obliging* them by cheering and booing on cue. The military as backup singers for a would-be king."
"So dangerous. Note though that it’s also risky for him. He’s soiling a core tenet of US military culture and there are people who will set their jaws against him for the first time for it," said appellate lawyer Matthew Stiegler.
Meanwhile, others couldn't help but laugh at Trump thinking that the U.S. fought Japan in World War I.
"Recently, other countries celebrated the victory of World War I, France was celebrating, really. The only one that doesn't celebrate is the U.S.A. And we're the ones that won the war. Without us, you'd all be speaking German right now. Maybe a little Japanese thrown in," Trump said to the soldiers.
"President Big Mac thinks we fought the Japanese in World War I," mocked national security lawyer Bradley P. Moss.
