Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) warned Tuesday that President Trump’s talk of a “war from within” could be used as a pretext to cancel the 2028 election.
Speaking on The Jim Acosta Show, Goldman deemed Trump’s address to military leaders at Quantico “really dangerous,” citing the president’s framing of federal crime crackdowns in major cities as a necessary war.
“It is trying to manufacture a crisis so that Donald Trump can continue to take more and more authoritarian actions and so that he can usurp more and more power,” Goldman said of Trump’s speech. “Ultimately, my view is that he is looking ahead to 2028, where he will say that for cockamamie made-up reasons, like he’s talking to these generals about, that, ‘Well, look, we’re being invaded from within, from the enemy within, and we’ve got to keep our borders safe, and that’s what our focus has to be. We can’t possibly have an election under these circumstances.’”
Acosta then asked: “You really think that could happen?”
“Yeah, I think that’s where a lot of this is heading towards,” Goldman responded. “I think that’s why he’s floating a third term. I think that’s why he’s talking about this language of a war, of enemy within, of invasions, of securing our border.”
Goldman admitted Trump “deserves credit” for securing the border, but then claimed the border is now secure and there is no crisis, adding: “There’s no invasion. There’s no war. This is all manufactured and made up by him to usurp more power for himself.”
On Tuesday, Trump told military leaders that defending the homeland was their “top priority” and hinted they might be called on to assist in federal crackdowns within Democratic-run cities.
“What they’ve done to San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles. They’re very unsafe places, and we’re going to straighten them out one by one,” Trump said. “And this is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room. That’s a war, too. It’s a war from within.”
“America is under invasion from within. We’re under invasion from within,” Trump said. “No different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways because they don’t wear uniforms.”
The White House has deployed National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., and Memphis, and Trump this week ordered troops to Portland. He has also mentioned sending them to cities like Chicago, New York, and New Orleans.
Goldman has also repeatedly criticized ICE and immigration enforcement officials in recent weeks:
ICE is terrorizing our communities with uncontrolled excessively violent behavior, including an incident last week when an ICE agent assaulted a mother in front of her two young children.
Last week, Comptroller Lander and I demanded DOJ criminally investigate that ICE agent so… pic.twitter.com/Qi4UNfXpx3
— Rep. Dan Goldman (@RepDanGoldman) September 30, 2025
