Letter to the editor: Trading liberty for temporary safety is un-American

First published in the Brunswick Beacon, 01.08.26

In his Dec. 4 letter, Larry Hershoff defended Trump’s deployment of troops to American cities. Conservative Republicans, Trump-appointed judges and the Founding Fathers reject it.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) warned, “I worry about someday a Democrat president sending troops or National Guard units from New York, California, Oregon or Washington State to North Carolina. I think it’s bad precedent. If you look at this particular issue, I don’t see how you can argue that this comports with any sort of conservative view of states’ rights.”

Trump’s unlawful deployments were blocked by federal courts in Portland, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. In Portland, lifelong Republican and Trump-appointed Judge Karin Immergut said Trump’s description of the city as “war-ravaged” was “untethered to facts.” Citing America’s tradition of resistance to “government overreach, especially in the form of military intrusion into civil affairs,” she wrote, “This is a nation of constitutional law, not martial law.”

A fourth federal court blocked Trump’s deployment of troops to Chicago, ruling it violated the Posse Comitatus Act, which forbids using troops for domestic law enforcement, and the Tenth Amendment, which reserves certain powers to the states. An appeals court rejected Trump’s claim that Chicago protesters were in rebellion. “Political opposition is not rebellion,” the court ruled in a unanimous decision that included another Trump appointee.

Trump appealed to a Supreme Court dominated by Republican appointees. On Dec. 23, the Court — including two more Trump appointees — upheld the injunction, ruling that Trump had “failed to identify a source of authority” for the deployment. Repudiated by his own appointees, Trump was forced to cave. On New Year’s Eve, he withdrew the troops.

Benjamin Franklin famously warned, “Those who would give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” A willingness to see armed federal troops occupy American cities betrays constitutional conservatism and embraces the very tyranny Franklin warned us against.

Nancy Briganti

Carolina Shores