LEILA FADEL, HOST:
At a speech to hundreds of generals and admirals called to Virginia this week, President Trump laid out his vision for the military.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Only in recent decades did politicians somehow come to believe that our job is to police the far reaches of Kenya and Somalia while America is under invasion from within. We're under invasion from within.
FADEL: He also said the National Guard and other military forces should use American cities as training grounds. As Trump deploys or threatens to deploy National Guard to half a dozen American cities, how do those words he said sound to military leaders? For that, we're joined by retired Major General Randy Manner. He spent 15 years in the Guard and served as acting vice chief of the National Guard Bureau. General, good morning and thank you for being on the program.
RANDY MANNER: Good morning. Thank you for having me.
FADEL: So when you heard the president say American cities should be used as training grounds and the military should fight an enemy within, what were you thinking as someone who was a military leader?
MANNER: On the first count, in terms of using American cities as training grounds, the president and administration do not understand obviously what military training is all about. It's extremely dangerous. It involves heavy equipment, armored vehicles, night operations, weapons firing. And all of these things are done very closely monitored and done on military bases, such that we can ensure maximum safety for our military. To imply or to state outright that training grounds should be used for - as cities should be used as training grounds, is absurd. It reflects an under - a lack of understanding of what is involved in preparing our young men and women to be the best warriors on the planet.
FADEL: And what about the American public? I mean, using American cities as training grounds, I imagine, would be dangerous for people who live in the cities.
MANNER: Absolutely. I mean, it's something where it's just so absurd. It's just - it's - if it wasn't for the fact that it was the president, it's actually comical. It's so important that - and also, as you heard when the president said the - there was an enemy within, it's something where all of the listeners have to understand that the enemy within is not within the American military. It is not within the American people. It has not been. It is not there. And so I leave it to all your listeners to decide, well, if it's not the American military and not the American people, where is the enemy within?
FADEL: Is it unprecedented for a president to tell the U.S. military they should fight an undefined enemy within?
MANNER: Absolutely correct. That - it's - again, it's something where he's trying to turn the American military against the American people. I absolutely want to reassure the American people that our military will never turn our back on them, and you can absolutely have faith and hope in us that we will never abandon you. We will always have your back. We do not pledge allegiance to follow an individual. We pledge allegiance to defend the Constitution of the United States, to do things that are right, and that's why the American people can count on us and that we will not be divided.
FADEL: The things that the president said this week and combined with the National Guard being deployed in Washington, D.C. and now in other U.S. cities, does that or will that change the relationship between the public and the U.S. military?
MANNER: It very likely can because, as the president continues to drive wedges between different groups of people across our country, he's also going to be trying to drive a wedge between the American people and the military. Because you can imagine, we don't use the American military to watch Americans. That is not the objective. If there are issues relative to law enforcement, that's what you use - appropriately trained police officers to be able to do. You do not use military with armed weapons and with armored vehicles. They are not trained in these types of skills, and we should never have American soldiers on American streets.
FADEL: When you were listening to that speech, I mean, is the president - you mentioned the military swears an oath to the Constitution. Is the president asking the military to do things that are unconstitutional?
MANNER: I don't know. So far, I don't believe he's asking anything that's unconstitutional. He absolutely is pushing the envelope in terms of potential orders to deploy our National Guard into cities to do things which they are not, by law, permitted to do, as well as things they are not trained to do. And also it's important to understand when the president said the gloves are off and that the military can do whatever they can to win wars, that's this - that's the words of potential war criminals. That's extremely dangerous rhetoric, and we need to stand by the rule of law.
FADEL: That was retired Major General Randy Manner. General, thank you for joining us.
MANNER: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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