Trump sparks fresh concerns with talk of militarised towns: 'It looks better with military people'

It really has been a year since Donald Trump was inaugurated as US president for the second time, and the Republican sought to mark the occasion with a White House press briefing which left social media users stunned.

The lengthy briefing on Tuesday included Trump rambling about a binder clip and showing off a large textbook-like binder of his administration’s accomplishments, with the whole thing reigniting concern over the 79-year-old’s health and wellbeing.

Indeed, after proudly displaying the binder, he was seen throwing it to the floor with a loud thud.

Bit weird.

And at one point, referencing the deployment of the National Guard and their “picking up garbage”, Trump said: “To me, a town, it looks better when you have military people. These are big, strong guys, the bad guys look at them and they say, 'we’re not gonna mess with them’.”

The remarks have since caused concern on X/Twitter, with conspiracy theory expert Mike Rothschild tweeting that “we’ve come a long way from ‘don’t tread on me’ – a reference to the Gadsden flag, an American Revolutionary flag depicting a rattlesnake against a yellow background:

And journalist Mehdi Hasan said the remarks were “spoken like a true dictator”:

Trump’s comments on the military came amid ongoing criticism over his remarks on Greenland (the Danish territory which he wants the US to own as he believes it is important for national security) and raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

The White House has been approached by indy100 for comment.

Why not read…?

• Trump posts 'insane' AI image of himself taking Greenland
• Gavin Newsom excoriates European leaders for 'rolling over' to Trump

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