Bloomberg Discovers Trump Could Use the Insurrection Act, Again
Bloomberg's recent piece on Donald Trump invoking the Insurrection Act (again, according to their 2026 forecast) breathlessly details the 'unprecedented' deployment of military force to quell domestic unrest. What they conveniently gloss over is that this act has been invoked over 200 times in U.S. history, often by presidents protecting—or suppressing—civil rights. George Washington used it.
Lincoln used it. Even George H.W. Bush used it during the LA riots, deploying federal troops to quell disturbances. The 'little precedent' framing appears to arise only when the political winds shift. One might wonder if the concern for executive overreach into domestic policing depends heavily on who's holding the executive pen. The repeated invocation of the 'insurrection act' narrative, without
deeper historical context, serves less as a warning and more as a convenient cudgel in an election cycle, ensuring outrage is reserved for specific political targets while past usages become conveniently forgotten footnotes.