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The Atlantic contributing writer Juliette Kayyem was criticized Thursday for a column stating President Donald Trump’s National Guard deployment in D.C. endangered troops’ lives.
Kayyem, also a CNN national security analyst, argued that Trump’s deployment of Guard troops to D.C. was an unnecessary stunt that culminated in the shooting of two Guard members Wednesday.
“There are costs to performatively deploying members of the military — one of which is the risk of endangering them,” Kayyem declared.
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Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, allegedly shot National Guard troops Sarah Beckstrom and Andrew Wolfe just blocks from the White House in what officials called a “targeted” attack on Wednesday. Beckstrom died from her wounds on Thanksgiving Day. Wolfe continues to receive treatment for his wounds.
Lakanwal is in custody and recovering in the hospital after being shot and wounded by other National Guard members. Trump called the shooting a crime against the entire country and said the “animal” who committed the murder would pay the “steepest possible price.”
Kayyem argued the tragedy was avoidable because Trump was warned not to station troops in the city in the first place.
“The troops, deployed in an effort to reduce crime, are untrained in law enforcement; their days are spent cleaning up trash and walking the streets in uniform. Commanders, in a memo that was included in litigation challenging the high-visibility mission in D.C., argued that this could put them in danger,” she wrote.
Kayyem added that Trump’s decision was merely a way to attack his “political” opponents and not a good use of U.S. military members.
“The National Guard has been deployed as part of the White House’s political attacks on cities run by Democrats, and the Guard members are vulnerable because politics is not a military mission,” Kayyem continued.
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“Even if the deployments to D.C. were legal, they lack a clear mandate and metrics of success, and have vague rules of engagement and ill-defined operating procedures,” she added. “And morale is low among part-time volunteer soldiers, who have had to leave home to patrol the streets of an American city that Trump doesn’t like.”
Conservatives slammed Kayyem for the piece.
Prominent conservative X account, “AGHamilton29,” wrote, “This is a gross and ignorant attempt to blame the victims of terrorism for the terrorism. 1) The presence of National Guard troops has objectively reduced violent crime in D.C. so it’s not performative.
“2) Even if you disagree with the policy, that is clearly not the reason for yesterday’s attack. Someone committed to carrying out such an attack would have found a target regardless if the national guard was deployed or not. In fact, their presence likely reduced the amount of harm this particular attacker did as others were able to heroically respond almost immediately.”
Commentator Noam Blum said, “This take only works if you assume that simply being in our nation’s capital presents a risk to one’s safety. So you can either blame Trump for this by arguing that DC is too dangerous for members of the military, or you can ditch this moronic argument. Can’t have it both ways.”
Conservative author Varad Mehta posted, “These vermin really are going with the ‘their skirts were too short’ angle. Enemies of the people, and should be treated as such.”
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Journalist Drew Holden wrote, “The media simultaneously mitigating culpability for the shooter (‘look what the US government did!’) while blaming the troops in the line of the terrorists fire for being there is vile.”
The White House also condemned liberals who have blamed Trump for the shooting.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital, “This animal would’ve never been here if not for Joe Biden’s dangerous policies, which allowed countless unvetted criminals to invade our country and harm the American people.
“The Trump administration is taking every measure possible — in the face of unrelenting Democrat opposition — to get these monsters out of our country and clean up the mess made by the Biden administration. Instead of defending terrorists, the Democrats should join us in protecting the American people.”
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