At a recent Turning Point USA campus event in Oxford, Mississippi, Vice President J.D. Vance faced a pointed question from a student about the Trump administration’s use of the National Guard in American cities. The exchange made clear that young Americans are worried about civil liberties, but Vance’s answer cut to the core conservative conviction: the federal government’s first duty is to protect citizens from violent crime, not to coddle failing local governments. The crowd’s reaction showed that grassroots conservatives still demand results, not lectures.
When pressed, Vance didn’t dodge; he argued that if a Democrat like Joe Biden wanted to deploy the Guard to a red state to go after real murderers, conservatives should support that use of federal force to protect people’s lives and livelihoods. That blunt honesty is exactly what Americans tired of rising crime want to hear — a commitment to law and order over performative moralizing. Vance’s response wasn’t a lust for power, it was a policy prescription: when local officials fail, federal muscle must be an option to restore safety.
Some critics rush to call any federal deployment an overreach, but the facts show the administration has already moved to use federal assets where it deems necessary, from protecting critical ICE facilities to supporting law-enforcement operations in troubled cities. Conservatives who value public safety recognize that tools like the National Guard are precisely for moments when communities are under siege and state or local leaders won’t act. The real question is whether partisan defenders of crime want to keep leaving Americans exposed on city streets.
Vice President Vance has even publicly offered to send Guard troops to places like Detroit if local leaders want help — an unmistakable olive branch to any governor who puts citizens first. That offer underscores the conservative argument that government, when it acts, should act decisively and in partnership with state authorities to protect innocent people. If Democrats won’t accept help because of politics, they bear responsibility for the consequences. Americans deserve leaders who will do what’s necessary, not leaders who score points while neighborhoods burn.
Megyn Kelly rightly pushed back on the predictable left-wing narrative that paints every step to restore order as authoritarian. Her show has repeatedly highlighted how media and partisan critics conveniently ignore violent crime victims while obsessing over hypotheticals about governmental overreach. Conservatives should be proud to defend leaders who refuse to surrender our streets to criminal elements and to call out those who weaponize civil liberties as an excuse for inaction.
Yes, there will be legal fights and sanctimonious headlines from outlets that prefer outrage to solutions, and some courts have already scrutinized federal moves into cities. But let’s be clear: facing down violent crime and protecting American families isn’t an ideological indulgence — it’s the essence of governing. Hardworking patriots want a nation where mothers walk safely to their cars and kids play in parks without fear; if using the Guard temporarily helps achieve that while respecting the rule of law, then conservatives should stand unapologetically for it.
