Searching for the Trigger
The Steady State | Jonathan Winer as published in The Washington Spectator
Searching for the Trigger explores how President Trump is laying the groundwork for invoking the Insurrection Act to justify deploying military force inside the United States. Following the unprecedented federalization of California’s National Guard without state consent, and with a looming interagency plan to embed military support in domestic policing due by July 27, the administration appears to be engineering a legal and operational framework that could be used to suppress dissent and target political opposition.
Winer warns that in the wake of Trump’s June 21 strikes on Iran, the administration may seize on any retaliation or civil unrest—no matter how minor—as a pretext to invoke emergency powers. Coupled with state-level resistance to immigration enforcement, these developments position the president to claim rebellion, sideline judicial oversight, and sidestep constitutional guardrails. The use of military force would no longer be a last resort—it could become a permanent instrument of domestic control.
Equally troubling is the administration’s consolidation of federal data using Palantir platforms to create a sweeping, opaque surveillance infrastructure. This fusion of personal records across agencies and the militarization of law enforcement represents a profound threat to civil liberties. The article closes with a stark warning: Trump is not waiting for a rebellion—he may be preparing to manufacture one.
The full article is here: https://washingtonspectator.org/searching-for-the-trigger/
Jonathan M. Winer is the former Special Envoy for Libya and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Law Enforcement and a Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow at MEI. He is a member of The Steady State.
Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 290 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.