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‘Law and order’ push shows a Trump no longer encumbered by naysaying aides or government guardrails
By WILL WEISSERT and JILL COLVINUpdated 11:01 PM CDT, October 15, 2025
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump was telling a Rose Garden audience about his efforts to quell violence in the nation’s capital when, as if on cue, his words were drowned out by the wail of sirens from passing vehicles.
“Listen to the beauty of that sound,” Trump said, grinning before adding. “They’re not politically correct sirens.”
Coming as it did during an otherwise somber event to posthumously award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the moment encapsulated how Trump’s push for law-and-order-at-all-costs has become a centerpiece of his second term.
He’s deployed troops to Democrat-majority cities and directed federal officials, often with their faces obscured by masks, to round up people living in the country illegally. He has suggested that U.S. urban areas could become military “ training grounds ” and toyed with invoking the Insurrection Act so political opponents can’t use the courts to foil his plans.
Now settled into his second term, Trump has embraced the kind of tough-on-crime approach he has always campaigned on but was unable to achieve with the naysayers who often checked his most extreme instincts during his first four years in office. In the process, his administration has sometimes trampled law enforcement norms and critics say Trump has weaponized the Department of Justice, using it to go after political opponents. ...
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