# National security means whatever Trump wants

> A post-9/11 emergency apparatus never got dismantled, and now it justifies ballrooms, tubas and trans people.
- Title: National security means whatever Trump wants · Mother Jones
- Summary: 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…
- Keywords: trump, national security, executive power, civil liberties, post-9/11, National, security, means, whatever, wants, Mother Jones
- Source: Mother Jones — https://motherjones.com/politics/2026/09/trump-keeps-using-national-security-to-do-what-he-wants-war-dissidents-environment
- Author: Sophie Hurwitz
- Published: 2026-09-13T13:58:12+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: trump, national security, executive power, civil liberties, post-9/11
## 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The emergency powers and agencies that grew out of 2001 were never repealed.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
## Key takeaway

When one phrase can justify anything from annexing Greenland to taxing trumpets, it has stopped being a security standard and become a blank cheque.