JOSH HAMMER: Trump’s National Guard Deployment and the Art of the 80-20 Issue.
Trump knows that when he floats these proposals, Democrats and their corporate media allies won’t respond with nuance. They’ll respond with knee-jerk outrage — just as they did in 2020, when Trump sent federal agents to Portland to stop violent anarchists from torching courthouses. The media framed it as martial law; sane Oregonians saw it as basic governance.
This dynamic plays out again and again. When Trump highlights the border crisis and the need to deport unsavory figures like Mahmoud Khalil and Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Democrats defend open borders. When Trump attacks gender ideology indoctrination in schools, Democrats double down on letting teachers hide children’s “transitions” from their parents. When Trump condemns pro-Hamas rioters in American cities, Democrats can’t bring themselves to say a word of support for Israel’s war against a U.S. State Department-recognized foreign terrorist organization. When Trump signs an executive order seeking to partially recriminalize flag burning, Democrats defend flag burning.
On and on it goes. By now, it’s a well-established pattern. And it’s politically devastating for the Left. Moreover, the relevant history is on Trump’s side. This sort of federal corrective goes back all the way to the republic’s origins; those now freaking out might want to read up on George Washington’s efforts to quash the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794.
Call it the art of the 80-20 issue. Along with his sheer sense of humor, Trump’s instinctual knack for picking such winning battles is one of his greatest political assets. And this time, the winner won’t just be Trump himself — it will be Chicagoans and Baltimoreans as well.
Related:
Despite success in D.C., Democrat Mayor Brandon Scott rejects President Trump’s help to fight crime in Baltimore.
MANU RAJU: "Wouldn’t you want [crime] down even further? So if additional troops, etc from federal government could help, wouldn’t you just take that extra help?" pic.twitter.com/VcyKJ5DHMe
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 7, 2025
Baltimore’s last Republican mayor left office almost 60 years ago. Why do Charm City’s mayors in the decades since want to keep maintaining plenty of “space to destroy,” despite such anarchy leading to collapsing real estate values and a fleeing tax base?