President Donald Trump, joined by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and other administration officials, speaks in the Oval Office on October 6, 2025. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

In a nation founded on a revolt against tyranny, the notion of American troops being sent onto domestic streets has always evoked a specter of liberty in peril.

This is why most presidents resisted such a step and why President Donald Trump’s insatiable zeal for doing so may be so consequential.

His attempts to send National Guard reservists into Portland, Oregon , and Chicago, Illinois , against the wishes of city and state authorities, has the potential to finally create the constitutional crisis his critics have feared for eight months.

It is testing how far Trump can pus

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