Barack Obama really should follow the lead of old-time presidents and, instead of seeking the limelight, opt for a rocking chair on his front porch. In that way, he could spare himself the embarrassment of saying really stupid things. During a podcast with Marc Maron, Obama made a comment about using the National Guard that was meant to attack Trump, but merely made Obama look ignorant and partisan.
Before even getting to the substance of what Obama said, what’s notable about the interview is how Obama looks. He’s wound up as tightly as an angry suburban leftist woman explaining to her psychiatrist why her husband was completely wrong in the recent fight they had. His legs are crossed, his arms are crossed, and his shoulders are hunched over. He looks lost in the comfy white armchair in which he sits:
Looking at this effete, defensive little man, it’s almost incomprehensible that he was the leader of the free world for eight years.
But what about what he said? In response to a question from Maron, he had a uniquely foolish take on President Trump’s decision to bring the National Guard to Chicago to protect ICE from enraged leftists as it carries out its statutory mandate to detail illegal aliens for repatriation to their home countries:
Former President Barack Obama speaks out against the militarization of American cities:
— Ron Smith (@Ronxyz00) October 13, 2025
"When you have military that can direct force against their own people, that is inherently corrupting... When you see an administration suggest that ordinary street crime is an insurrection… pic.twitter.com/2cD1hV50W7
Here’s the relevant part:
OBAMA: When, when you have militaries that can direct force against their own people, that is that is inherently corrupting. And so when you now start seeing the politicization of the military, deliberately, right?
MARON: They just landed in Chicago.
OBAMA: Yeah. That, uh, when you have what what looks like a deliberate end run around not just a concept, but a law that's been around for a long time, Posse Comitatus, that says, you know, you don't use our military on domestic soil unless there is a [sic] extraordinary emergency of some sort.
That that when you see an administration suggest that ordinary street crime is an insurrection, or
MARON: Or a terrorist act.
OBAMA: Or a terrorist act, that is a genuine effort to weaken how we have understood democracy. And that that was understood by Democrats and Republicans.
I always try to, to uh, uh, I mean, it's almost too easy of a thought experiment. If I had sent in the National Guard into Texas and just said, you know what, a lot of problems in Dallas, you know, a lot of crime there. And uh I don't care what Governor Abbott says, I'm going to kind of take over law enforcement because I think things are out of control. I it is mind-boggling to me how Fox News would have responded.
As with the image Obama projects, what jumps out, even before the substance, is the shock that this inarticulate man was sold to us for years as a “great communicator.” He was a great TelePrompter reader, that’s what he was.
But what about the substance? Well, it’s worse than the delivery. What’s obvious right off the bat is that Obama has no idea what’s happening in Chicago. This is not a case of people standing in front of an ICE facility waving pre-printed signs from Soros-funded organizations and voicing mindless chants. Doing both, of course, is protected by the First Amendment.
Instead, what’s happening in Chicago is violent criminal acts to obstruct ICE agents from going about their duties: Car blockades, guns, objects being hurled, blinding lasers, and active connivance with criminal illegal aliens (e.g., rapists, murderers, pedophiles, etc.). In other words, these mobs are guilty of violating 18 U.S.C. § 111:
Whoever—
(1) forcibly assaults, resists, opposes, impedes, intimidates, or interferes with any person designated in section 1114 of this title [officers and employees of the United States] while engaged in or on account of the performance of official duties; or
(2) forcibly assaults or intimidates any person who formerly served as a person designated in section 1114 on account of the performance of official duties during such person’s term of service,
shall, where the acts in violation of this section constitute only simple assault, be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both, and where such acts involve physical contact with the victim of that assault or the intent to commit another felony, be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 8 years, or both.
Throw in using deadly or dangerous weapons—such as guns, cars, or blinding lasers—and you’ve got yourself a prison sentence of up to 20 years. This is a big deal.
In other words, what’s happening isn’t a situation in which Trump is using the military to attack people on the streets. He is, instead, using it precisely as the Insurrection Act intended. The Act itself states:
Whenever the President considers that unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion against the authority of the United States, make it impracticable to enforce the laws of the United States in any State by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, he may call into Federal service such of the militia of any State, and use such of the armed forces, as he considers necessary to enforce those laws or to suppress the rebellion.
Glenn Reynolds explains that the Act places the discretion to call out the Guard squarely within the President’s power.
As it happens, lots of presidents, both Democrat and Republican, have exercised that discretion and called in the National Guard when people went beyond free speech and assembly and began committing acts of violence or deliberately interfering with federal officers and employees. ChatGPT helped me assemble this list which goes back to the Act’s passage in 1956:
What’s notable is that, except for the U.S. Virgin Islands unrest following Hurricane Hugo, in all those examples, the National Guard was always called in to quell Democrat party unrest, whether from the old KKK Democrat party or from the modern communist Democrat party.
And of course, let’s not forget how, for President Biden’s inauguration, more than 25,000 National Guard troops occupied Washington, D.C., when the governors of the 50 states voluntarily sent their Guard troops there. The troops ended up staying in D.C. for four-and-a-half months, all under Biden’s aegis. Meanwhile, the FBI embarked on the largest manhunt in FBI history, hunting down every granny unlucky enough to find herself part of the surge that pressed into the Capitol building after the police opened the magnetic doors.
Barack Obama’s time is long past. He needs to exit the public stage. History is finally revealing the disastrous effect his administration had on America, and his recent inane pronouncements only highlight just how bad he was.