Forget MAGA, Trump Is Making America Canada
Turning the National Guard into a nationwide police force betrays the Founders’ vision and erodes the freedoms that make the U.S. exceptional.
The first time I went to a concert in Washington, D.C., I jogged from the bus barefoot. I'd worn flip-flops and was running late, so I kicked them off to move faster. I often walk barefoot here—whether to a record store in Adams Morgan, along the Wharf after a show at the Anthem, or through the quiet streets of Takoma Park—sometimes by choice, sometimes to let my girlfriend rest her feet after a long day in heels. It's nice knowing I can do this without worrying about stepping on blood, human waste, or a heroin needle. This wasn't the case back home in Vancouver, Canada, especially in the Downtown Eastside. There, it wasn't uncommon to see a dead body on the way to or from a concert.
Since moving to D.C. in 2023 to study law, I've felt safe and at home. Sure, I've had strange subway encounters (a hooligan dipped his finger into my strawberry Dr. Pepper), and I've had my bike stolen once (compared to three thefts in Vancouver, all while locked), but I've never been seriously afraid or concerned for my safety. However, the numbers don't lie. Though there is considerable dispute over D.C.'s crime statistics recently, the district had the fourth-highest murder rate in the country in 2024. There were nearly 1,000 carjackings in 2023, a 650 percent increase since 2017. Further, persistent, often masked shoplifting is a blight on business owners city-wide.
On August 11, President Donald Trump declared a crime emergency in D.C. following the assault of a Department of Government Efficiency staffer earlier that same week. The cost of the takeover is estimated to run about one million dollars per day. While it's possible such action could be effective, there has so far been little noticeable difference across most of the city, for better or worse.
D.C. isn't the endgame. Trump has said that using the National Guard in D.C. is "a sort of test" to determine whether he should deploy the National Guard for similar purposes across America, with Baltimore and Chicago next in his crosshairs.
Take it from a Canadian: Even if the goal is reducing crime, establishing a nationwide infrastructure of military policing is a dangerous play and ought to be weighed against the considerable risks such a program would pose.
The president is likely within his rights if he limits deployments to the National Guard. The Posse Comitatus Act bars the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air and Space Forces from domestic law enforcement, but its text doesn't cover the Guard. Though some organizations argue that a federalized national guard is subject to these restrictions, in Perpich v. Department of Defense, the Supreme Court held that a federalized Guard operates as part of the Army, but the act allows exceptions "expressly authorized by…Act of Congress," which includes the president's authority to federalize the Guard to enforce federal law. By contrast, Trump's earlier deployment of 700 Marines to Los Angeles likely crossed the line. Even then, the act's penalties—a fine or up to two years in prison—are unlikely to apply after Trump v. United States, which granted presidents presumptive immunity for official acts.
The Posse Comitatus Act reflects one of the key grievances in the Declaration of Independence: the king's insistence on keeping standing armies in times of peace without the consent of the legislatures. The Founders understood that an ever-present standing army could easily be weaponized against ostensibly free people. This is also why they, with the inclusion of the Second Amendment, affirmed the importance of a militia from among the people themselves. The National Guard was born out of this militia tradition and intended as an alternative to standing armies.
Turning the National Guard into a standing federal police force would reproduce the very same risks the Guard was created to mitigate—risks that still persist in Canada, which never sought to place the might of the militia back in the hands of the people themselves.
Watching videos from D.C. today, it's hard to miss parallels with scenes from the now-infamous Canadian trucker Freedom Convoy of 2022. Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stirred similar sentiments of lawlessness to justify the suspension of civil liberties and violently crack down on protests against COVID-era restrictions. Worse still, the Canadian government seized the bank accounts of those who supported the protestors. A Canadian court has found Trudeau's actions illegal, but the damage was done. Trudeau didn't need to deploy the military to enforce this crackdown, instead giving the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) provincial police authority without regard to the civil liberties of protestors. The Mounties, as they're commonly known, operate as a comprehensive nationwide police force, combining regionally variable local policing abilities with powers akin to those held by the FBI, CIA, ATF, and other U.S. Agencies. They can even be deployed abroad to assist with military missions.
Despite Canada's ability to quickly mobilize its federal police against these protestors, the country is no safer for it. Canadians are unable to defend themselves from home invasions, police have encouraged residents to leave their car keys on their front doorstep to avoid encounters with thieves, and Canada's bail system has enabled absurd recidivism outcomes. These failings aren't exclusive to areas that are municipally policed; in fact, rural areas, which are generally policed directly by the RCMP, face higher levels of severe crime. The problem isn't a lack of police; it's a lack of the right to self-defense and serious consequences for perpetrators.
Canada's frail separation of powers and weak protection of civil liberties aren't features America should seek to emulate. Thankfully, D.C. continues to remain vastly more tolerant of protest, even during this period of heightened tension. But the Founders did not fight a revolution to see American cities patrolled by a permanent military presence. They understood that a government with soldiers turned inward against its own people ceases to be a guardian of liberty and becomes its greatest threat.