The first few hundred U.S. troops arrived along the southern U.S. border Friday, just days after President Trump’s announcement that active duty forces would now join U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and National Guard units already there. But debates about the operational logic of this deployment obscure the more profound effect such decisions may have on the military’s domestic political role. Deploying the military on domestic soil has long been controversialTrump’s border moves have generated considerable controversy among military veterans. If officers and their institutions are used to legitimize a domestic political agenda, partisans eventually could threaten opponents with force, not just electoral losses. Militarizing the southern border over the past week appears to be a dramatic gesture to heighten the perception of public threat, and perhaps rally Republicans into voting booths on Tuesday.

Source: Washington Post November 05, 2018 11:00 UTC