Trump Has Given the National Guard Some Absurd Tasks in D.C.-but Don't Be Too Relieved

Over 2,000 National Guard members deployed to Washington were assigned to tasks such as garbage collection, raking leaves, mulching cherry trees, and other beautification projects. Troops sent to address a proclaimed "crime emergency" instead performed groundskeeping and landscaping duties. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth promoted a "warfighting ethos" emphasizing "lethality" while troops carried out light maintenance tasks. The deployment exemplifies disrespectful and politicized use of armed service members and represents a public display of military presence in the capital without regard for mission, training, cost, or waste. Experts warn that such deployments are not trivial and require contextual scrutiny.

Given all the opportunities for undistilled panic in Donald Trump's America, one wants to sigh in relief at the revelation that the National Guard members sent in to police a militarized D.C. this past month have settled into their new life as glorified-if expensive- groundskeepers. While they were brought in theoretically to beat back the "crime emergency" in Washington, many of the 2,000-plus troops have been deployed to attack various "beautification" projects that range from garbage collection to raking leaves to mulching cherry trees.

It's tempting to chuckle. When Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a former National Guard officer and Fox News host, bragged last December about the plan to refocus the "warfighting ethos" of the Pentagon on "lethality, lethality, lethality," he probably wasn't thinking about light weeding. But don't let the orange reflective vests fool you-the fact that troops trained to respond to national emergencies are being insulted in the president's backyard isn't a signal that we've escaped an authoritarian threat.

But in an interview this week on the Amicus podcast, Liza Goitein, senior director of the nonpartisan Brennan Center's Liberty and National Security Program, noted that there is nothing trivial or benign about deploying troops to do beautification work. "Yeah, it seems trivial to have members of the National Guard, you know, sodding the National Mall. But you also have to look at this in context," she said. "Look at the countries in wh

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