From Mother Jones · Sophie Hurwitz · · 1m 50s
National security means whatever Trump wants
A post-9/11 emergency apparatus never got dismantled, and now it justifies ballrooms, tubas and trans people.
In brief
A post-9/11 emergency apparatus never got dismantled, and now it justifies ballrooms, tubas and trans people. When one phrase can justify anything from annexing Greenland to taxing trumpets, it has stopped being a security standard and become a blank cheque. Originally reported by Mother Jones.
The magic words
Trump has one answer for nearly everything he does: it's a national security matter. The phrase does the work that evidence used to.
“President Donald Trump has a favorite justification for everything he does: "It's a national security matter."”
Built after 9/11, never dismantled
The emergency powers and agencies that grew out of 2001 were never repealed. Twenty-five years on, they point inward, at domestic critics.
Not a new trick
Presidents have stretched the term for decades, and Trump's first term already covered Japanese cars, Chinese telecom gear and briefly Grindr. The second term went further.
Greenland or else
Trump has pushed annexation in early-morning Truth Social posts, tying the island to the Golden Dome project and warning that Russia or China would take it first.
“The United States needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security.”
Protesters as terrorists
A September 2025 memorandum designated antifa a domestic terrorist organization. Dozens of ICE protesters now face trial as security threats, some over moving zines or a T-shirt.
Wind bad, coal good
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum cites a classified Hegseth report proving offshore wind is a threat, without explaining how. The same logic keeps coal plants running and restarts a California oil pipeline.
Ballrooms, trombones, drones
A $400 million White House ballroom became a "National Security structure". Brass instruments drew a 25 percent tariff over copper alloys. Foreign drones face 100 percent, and Eric and Don Jr. hold drone industry stakes.
“desperately needed National Security structure for the people of the United States of America”
Who counts as a threat
A March 2025 order stripped collective bargaining from about 950,000 federal workers. The May counterterrorism plan lists transgender people alongside cartels and jihadists.
“whether it is the cartels, the jihadists or violent left-wing extremists like antifa”
In short
When one phrase can justify anything from annexing Greenland to taxing trumpets, it has stopped being a security standard and become a blank cheque.
