The Trump Administration may be preparing to invoke the Insurrection Act (possibly in April)

Posted by Huey_Freeman2025@reddit | collapse | View on Reddit | 258 comments

hey all,

I've tried posting this to several subreddits in order to draw attention to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle (published on the 5th March) titled: "Is Trump preparing to invoke the Insurrection Act? Signs are pointing that way". You are welcome to read the article, but for the most part I am repeating much of it here and have tried to expand on it where reasonably possible.

The reason for believing this is the case is that on Trumps' first day in office, January 20th, he signed an executive order "Declaring a National Emergency at the Southern Border of the United States". Section 6b reads as follows:

(b)  Within 90 days of the date of this proclamation, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit a joint report to the President about the conditions at the southern border of the United States and any recommendations regarding additional actions that may be necessary to obtain complete operational control of the southern border, including whether to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807.

Having signed this on his first day, the 90-day period would end on Sunday 20th April (which is co-incidentally both Easter Sunday and Adolf Hitler's Birthday). Taken at face value, this means that the Secretary of Defence and the Secretary of Homeland Security will compile a joint report, submit it to President's Trump consideration and then discuss whether to invoke the Insurrection Act within that time frame.

The Insurrection Act "empowers the president of the United States to deploy the U.S. military and federalised National Guard troops within the United States in particular circumstances, such as to suppress civil disorder, insurrection or rebellion." This act provides an exemption to the Posse Comitatus Act "which limits the use of military personnel under federal command for law enforcement purposes within the United States." In order to use the insurrection act, the President is required to publish a proclamation ordering the 'insurgents' to disperse. Hypothetically, this might take the form of a televised national address, which might be the first time the public actually becomes aware of the danger this presents.

Using the Insurrection Act is slightly different to declaring martial law, as martial law is constitutionally a power that is reserved to Congress (in order to protect the right of habeas corpus as the right to a hearing and trial on lawful imprisonment, or more broadly, the supervision of law enforcement by the courts). However, acting alone without Congress, the Insurrection Act is as close as any President can get to declaring martial law, by having the military and federalised national guard units serve as law enforcement.

This is obviously very dangerous, as currently the Vice President, the Cabinet and both chambers of Congress are under Republican control, meaning they're unlikely to serve as effective legal checks to the President's authority. Furthermore, Trump fired much of america's highest ranking military leadership in February, including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the head of the Navy and the judge advocates general in the army, navy and airforce. These are the kind of people who would ordinarily be in a position to challenge the President should he order the armed forces to do something illegal or unconstitutional. Given that the Supreme Court has given the President "absolute immunity for official acts", basically without defining with what those official acts are, isn't not clear how this would affect a President should they decide to deploy the armed forces within the united states, treating them as their own personal private army, to suppress protesters or occupy major cities as Trump has repeatedly threatened to do. Without any of these check and limit to his authority, it may ultimately be unclear if, when or how the state of emergency would ever be brought to an end if a President is unwilling to do so.

Based on search engine results, the story is getting limited attention from some media outlets, such as on justsecurity.org, the New York Times (behind a paywall), 'Livenowfox.com'Blavity and The Mary Sue. But this isn't much in the grand scheme of things and, if this is what is going to happen, the public probably won't be aware until it's actually in progress.  It's possible the story is getting suppressed, but I can't tell you that for certain. Please feel free to do your own research until you are satisfied and confident that these conclusions are correct and please share this information whenever you can, as it may be the best way of preparing people to oppose this if it does come to pass. I have set up a subreddit ( r/preserveprotectdefend) with the aim of working to remove Trump from office and protect the U.S. Constition. But realistically, in such a short time frame it's going to be up to more established organisations with the resources, manpower and networks to share this information and give the American people a chance to act on it and to defend their rights and their country.

So, in closing, I hope I've got this wrong and I am somehow mistaken. But, if this is right, and the fact that the President included a reference to the insurrection act in an executive order alone should suggest its being seriously considered as a possibility, you'll be able to watch and live through the collapse of the United States and it's Constitution in real time. I wish I could do or say more that might change this, but I'll leave you with this: Take care of yourselves and best of luck.