President Trump has now turned his focus to Memphis, making it the latest city he says needs federal intervention to fight crime.
He signed an order on Monday alongside Tennessee’s Republican Gov. Bill Lee to establish a new federal task force there. Trump compared it to what he already did in Washington, D.C., where more than 2,000 National Guard troops have been stationed for weeks. “It’s very important because of the crime that’s going on in many cities, not only in Memphis, and we’re going to take care of all of ’em. Step by step, just like we did in D.C.”
This new task force doesn’t just include the Guard — it ropes in the FBI, immigration authorities, U.S. Marshals and more. On paper, it looks like a major crime-fighting coalition. But scratch the surface, and it’s really about testing the limits of presidential power, forcing or threatening federal intervention in Democratic-led cities under the banner of “law and order.”
And the numbers in Memphis don’t justify this kind of escalation. Just days before Trump’s announcement, the Memphis Police Department reported declines across every major crime category compared to the same period in recent years.
Memphis Mayor Paul Young made his position clear: “I did not ask for the National Guard, and I don’t think it’s the way to drive down crime.”
Here’s another problem: when the president deploys federal agents for street patrols, it doesn’t just disrupt cities — it derails the work those agencies were actually created to do.
In Washington, we’re already seeing it. As Trump’s deployment of federal agents there enters its second month, the effects are becoming clear. While crime keeps falling, the other investigative work of the FBI is being delayed, frustrating law enforcement officials and leading some to quit. Many agents who were once focused on financial fraud and public corruption now spend two or three nights a week patrolling. That means critical investigations — things like witness interviews, search warrants and planning meetings — are slowing to a crawl.
So not only does this militarized approach put soldiers on American streets, it also takes away from the very investigations that actually keep our government accountable and our communities safe.
That’s why this should concern all of us. We are being conditioned to accept the military as a recurring answer to non-emergency problems. And when you normalize soldiers in the streets, you normalize executive overreach.
The truth is simple: the military should not be policing civilians. So why are we normalizing it? Why are we so quick to welcome soldiers into U.S. cities as a fix for crime? This isn’t about safety — it’s about government power expanding where it doesn’t belong.
If the past few years taught us anything, it’s this: once you normalize the extraordinary, you lose your ability to call it out when it becomes the rule. And when it comes to putting soldiers on our streets, we cannot afford to play that game.
Lindsey Granger is a News Nation contributor and co-host of The Hill’s commentary show “Rising.” This column is an edited transcription of her on-air commentary.
