Hillary Clinton lamented Monday that some of what she predicted for President Donald Trump’s second term one year ago is already coming true.
The former secretary of state and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee posted on X a side-by-side comparison of her prediction that Trump would militarize diverse cities in the name of “law and order” with screen-grabs of recent headlines from NBC News and The Washington Post about the president sending the national guard to Washington, D.C. and planning to do the same in Chicago.
“On the left, my warning from September 2024 about what Trump 2.0 would look like. On the right, recent headlines,” Clinton wrote. “I wish I’d been wrong. But because Trump is following a classic authoritarian playbook, it’s up to state and local governments to push back on this tyranny while it’s still possible.”
On the left, my warning from September 2024 about what Trump 2.0 would look like. On the right, recent headlines.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 25, 2025
I wish I'd been wrong. But because Trump is following a classic authoritarian playbook, it’s up to state and local governments to push back on this tyranny while… pic.twitter.com/ZfW3M2demR
“Welcome to Trump’s America. If you live in a major city, the first thing you’ll probably notice are the soldiers patroling the streets outside your window,” Clinton wrote in September last year. “Are we at war? Have we been invaded by a foreign adversary? The answer is no. Here’s what you missed while you were sleeping: On Jan. 20, 2025, President Trump’s first day back in office, he ordered the U.S. military to enforce ‘law and order’ in cities with large minority populations like Chicago, New York and D.C. that he called ‘crime dens.’”
On the right of the X post, one NBC News headline from Monday morning read, “National Guard troops in D.C. begin carrying firearms,” and one from the Post on Sunday read, “Pentagon plans military deployment in Chicago as Trump eyes crackdown.”
In the lead-up to Trump’s second win for the White House last November, Clinton was not the only prominent politician sounding the alarm on his embrace of “a classic authoritarian playbook.” Vice President Kamala Harris, then the last-minute Democratic presidential nominee after Joe Biden dropped out in July, also feared the possibility of Trump sending the military after U.S. citizens in their own streets.
“He considers any American who doesn’t support him or bend to his will to be an enemy to our country,” Harris said in an October campaign speech. “And further, he says that as commander in chief, he would use our military to go after them. Honestly, let that sink in.”
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson responded to Trump’s threats to send the national guard into his city on Sunday.
“The governor, the Cook County board president and I are in complete alignment: Chicago is not calling for a military occupation of our city,” Johnson said in a statement. “We are currently evaluating all of our legal options to protect the people of Chicago from unconstitutional federal overreach … No matter what happens, the City of Chicago will not waver. We are Chicago. We will not bend or cower, and we will never break.”
