SOLDIERS IN THE STREETS: PROJECT 2025, POSSE COMITATUS AND THE FIGHT FOR AMERICA’S CITIES

Naomi Wolf Warned Us!

Naomi Wolf — born of San Francisco soil — warned us. In The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot, she wrote that democracies do not collapse all at once. They die in stages, in steps, in silences. They die when soldiers begin to police civilians and when leaders treat emergency powers as ordinary tools of government.

Today, her words rise again like a siren. President Donald Trump has already shown the world how quickly the old boundaries can collapse. And the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 is his manual for turning those dangerous precedents into permanent policy.

Naomi Wolf was not the only person who sounded the alarm.  I also issued a warning in August 2024 in my article entitled:

PROJECT 2025 AND THE VEILED THREAT OF RIGHT-WING POLITICAL VIOLENCE https://destination-freedom.org/project-2025-and-the-veiled-threat-of-right-wing-political-violence/

Make no mistake: what we are seeing is not “law and order.” This is domination disguised as democracy.

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The Firewall of Freedom

The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 is more than ink on paper. It is a firewall. It says the military is not a national police force. It says soldiers do not patrol our neighborhoods. It says the President cannot simply call in the Guard to silence dissent.

The Congressional Research Service is clear: once troops begin “executing civilian law,” the firewall collapses. Trump has tested those boundaries again and again, and Project 2025 seeks to erase them altogether.

Naomi Wolf told us: the erosion of liberty comes step by step, not overnight. This is one of those steps.

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Washington, D.C.: Camouflage in the Capital

June 2020. Lafayette Square. The world saw helicopters drop low over peaceful protesters, National Guard units flanked by federal police, chemical agents scattered the crowd.

Officials called it security. Let’s be clear: that was not security. That was intimidation in camouflage.

This year, 2025, the Trump Administration manufactured an “emergency” in order to deploy National Guard troops and federal officers in order to combat what the Administration classified as “over-the-top lawlessness” in the District of Columbia.

And in that moment, Posse Comitatus became a fig leaf instead of a firewall. Project 2025 has made this the rule, not the exception.

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Los Angeles: Federal Pressure, State Deployment

In Los Angeles, community members protested raids conducted by ICE against undocumented human beings.  Los Angeles law enforcement agencies responded to some instances of violence. However, the Trump Administration activated the California National Guard in order to suppress the voices of protest.  The White House leaned in hard demanding domination of protestors whether their actions were peaceful or not.

Naomi Wolf’s words ring true: authoritarians use crises as leverage to strip power from the local and concentrate it in the executive. That is the play in L.A. Project 2025 wrote that power grab into law.

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Chicago: Threats as a Governing Style

Chicago was painted as “lawless.” Trump rolled out Operation Safeguard the Nation, which flooded the city with federal agents. He threatened, again and again, to “send in the Guard” and eventually he made good on that promise.

Here’s the truth: in Chicago, federal badges have become camouflage, and rhetoric has become a weapon. Trump threatened the Guard like a landlord threatens eviction — and then the people were treated like rogue tenants in their own city and in their own homes.

Wolf’s analysis echoes: demonize a city, brand its leaders as weak, then justify repression as rescue. That is how democracy unravels.

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Portland: The Courtroom Crucible

The Trump administration’s deployment of federal agents and National Guard forces in Portland, Oregon represents one of the most egregious abuses of federal power in modern history. Under the guise of “protecting federal property,” heavily armed officers from agencies like DHS and CBP have been unleashed on peaceful demonstrators, and they’ve often used unmarked vehicles to detain citizens without cause. The presence of militarized troops has turned downtown Portland into a war zone—tear gas, rubber bullets, and flashbangs rained down on protesters who have been exercising their First Amendment rights. This unprecedented use of force has blurred the line between law enforcement and military occupation.  These actions have trampled on the Posse Comitatus Act’s intent and has eroded the delicate balance between federal authority and local sovereignty.

Wolf warned: when regimes target journalists, when they criminalize protest, when they treat dissent as disorder — democracy teeters. Portland, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles are proof.

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Targeting Individuals: The Letitia James Indictment

And now most recently we see another stage of the playbook: targeting individuals who stand in opposition. The recent indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James is no accident. It is part of a pattern. The Department of Justice, under Trump’s command, wields its power not to safeguard democracy but to punish dissent.

Naomi Wolf wrote that authoritarians “pick off” key leaders and voices — journalists, activists, elected officials — to send a message. The targeting of James shows us that the administration is not only willing to send troops into cities, but also to use the justice system as a weapon against those who resist.

This is the very fabric of democracy unraveling before our eyes.

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Project 2025 vs. Trump’s Record

Emergency as Default: Trump has made the word “domination” a verb; Project 2025 makes it a doctrine.

Federalization on a Whim: Trump has pressured and attempted to intimidate governors and mayors; Project 2025 has codified executive takeover.

Blurred Lines: Trump deployed federal teams as soldiers in everything but name; Project 2025 has erased the distinction altogether.

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Targeting Dissenters: From journalists in Chicago and Portland and now to Letitia James in New York, individuals are punished in order to intimidate the many.

Naomi Wolf saw it coming. Ten steps to fascism, she warned. Step by step, we are walking that road now.

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A Warning for San Francisco

And now, the storm appears to move slightly south.  Trump and his allies have signaled that San Francisco could be next. Painted as “failed.” Framed as “chaotic.” Lined up for federal “rescue” by soldiers in the street.

But this city is no ordinary city. This is San Francisco. The longshoremen’s strike of the 1930s. The Summer of Love. The anti–Vietnam War uprisings. The queer resistance that lit the Castro with courage.

Naomi Wolf herself is of this city. And she told us: democracy ends not with a single blow, but when free people normalize the boots in their streets.

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Important Legal Context

After a bench trial in September 2025, Senior U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer ruled against the Trump Administration finding the Administration violated the Posse Comitatus Act by using military forces for domestic law enforcement.  In early October 2025, the Trump Administration appealed Judge Breyer’s September decision to the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals.  The 9^th Circuit issued a temporary hold or stay on Judge Breyer’s decision.  The 9^th Circuit is in the process of reviewing the appeal by the Trump Administration and at this point in time, the case remains unresolved. 

The Trump Administration can still send National Guard troops into the City of San Francisco.  California Attorney General Rob Bonta has asked the 9^th Circuit to lift the stay on Judge Breyer’s decision. 

Senior U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer is a very-well respected San Francisco native.  His wife, Sydney Goldstein, was a phenomenal supporter of art and culture in the City of San Francisco.  The historic Sydney Goldstein Theater (formerly Nourse) in San Francisco’s Performing Arts Center was renamed in her honor.

A Plea to Mayor Daniel Lurie

Mayor Lurie, you carry the weight of this city’s legacy. As Washington, D.C. was bathed in tear gas, as Los Angeles heard the rumble of Guard convoys, as Chicago braced under federal threats, and as Portland has fought in courtrooms and on the streets, San Francisco has stood as a witness.

Now we face the possibility that our own streets — where Harvey Milk cried for justice, where Cesar Chavez marched, where Naomi Wolf wrote her warning — could echo with the sound of soldiers’ boots.

Mayor, history has no patience for silence. It remembers those who stood and those who folded. This city — our city — has always stood.

Stand now. Stand publicly. Stand unequivocally. Say it loud: San Francisco will not accept President Trump’s plan to send the Guard into our neighborhoods. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever. We need not have a King nor a dictator in the oval office.

Because this is not about law and order. This is about democracy itself. And democracy cannot live under occupation.

San Francisco must resist.

This article is dedicated to the memory of BELVA DAVIS, a legend in Media in the City of San Francisco.

Much of BELVA DAVIS ‘ life was spent on amplifying the voices of the unheard in our community. Through my Journalism I seek to honor her memory daily. May she rest in peace and power.

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Resources

1.         Naomi Wolf, The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot (Chelsea Green, 2007) – Framework on ten steps by which democracies slide into authoritarianism.

2.         Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 (18 U.S.C. § 1385)

–         Federal statute restricting the use of U.S. military in domestic law enforcement.

3.         Congressional Research Service (CRS), The Posse Comitatus Act and Related Matters: The Use of the Military to Execute Civilian Law (GPO, govinfo.gov)

–         Authoritative government analysis of the scope, limits, and exceptions to Posse Comitatus.

4.         Project 2025, The Heritage Foundation

–         Blueprint for a second Trump term, including expanded presidential control over federal agencies and security powers.

5.         Litigation from Portland Protests (2020)

–          Index Newspapers LLC v. United States Marshals Service, 977 F.3d 817 (9th Cir. 2020).

–          State of Oregon v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (D. Or., 2020).

–         Cases challenging federal force against protesters, journalists, and observers.

6.         Operation Safeguard the Nation (2025) – Department of Justice initiative        deploying federal agents into Chicago and other U.S. cities.

            Where has Trump suggested sending troops? In cities run by Democratic mayors https://www.npr.org/2025/10/10/nx-s1-5567177/national-guard-map-chicago-california-oregon

7.         News Coverage and Reports

–          Judge temporarily blocks Trump administration from sending National Guard troops to Chicago

–          https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/chicago-portland-trump-national-guard-deployments-court-hearings-rcna236201

–          What federal troop deployment looked like in Los Angeles https://www.opb.org/article/2025/09/30/think-out-loud-federal-troops-deployment-los-angeles/

–          Portland and Federal Troops https://www.portland.gov/federal/federal-troops

–          With no end in sight, National Guard troops deployed to DC grow weary https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/04/politics/national-guardsmen-deployed-to-dc-balance

8.         Recent Indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James.

—        Example of how the Trump administration DOJ targets individuals and             dissenting voices, consistent with Wolf’s warnings about authoritarian “picking off” of opponents. https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/the-indictment-of-letitia-james-and-the-collapse-of-impartial-justice

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As we always end our articles with a song and video.  We’ve chosen this one today, a powerful and inspirational R&B song that amplifies the message in this article:

Common, John Legend – Glory