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Oklahoma GOP Gov. Stitt Critical of Trump’s National Guard Deployment along State Borders

by Natalia Mittelstadt

Oklahoma GOP Gov. Kevin Stitt is criticizing President Trump’s deployment of the National Guard outside the state, saying the move violates state rights.

Stitt he told The New York Times. on Thursday, especially because he believes the deployment of Texas National Guard troops to Illinois is a violation of federalism and “states’ rights.”

GOP Texas Gov. Greg Abbott allowed Trump to deploy the Texas National Guard to Chicago this week after Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker protested the president’s plans to send the Guard.

“We believe in a federalist system – it’s states’ rights,” Stitt also said. “Oklahomaans would lose their minds if Pritzker of Illinois sent troops to Oklahoma during the Biden administration.”

Stitt said he supports Trump’s efforts to protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and ensure “law and order” in cities like Chicago and Portland, but is concerned about setting a precedent on the troop deployment and how it could be used by a president of a different party.

The governor said Trump should have moved to federalize the military in Illinois first.

Stitt, noted his opposition during the Covid-19 pandemic to federal vaccine and face covering mandates under then-President Biden.

“I was surprised that Governor Abbott sent troops from Texas to Illinois,” Stitt said. “Abbott and I sued the Biden administration when the shoe was already on the other foot and the Biden administration tried to force us to vaccinate all of our troops and mandate masks nationwide.”

“As a supporter of federalism, one governor against another, I don’t think that’s the right approach to this issue,” he added.

On Thursday, a federal judge in Illinois temporarily blocked Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to the state for 14 days. NOTUS informed.

“I believe that authorizing the deployment of the National Guard will only add fuel to the fire that the defendants have started,” the judge said.

Stitt’s remarks come days after Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Pritzker threatened to withdraw from the National Governors Association unless it criticized Trump’s federalization of National Guard troops against the wishes of state officials.

Oklahoma’s governor said his comments reflected his personal opinion and not an official statement from the NGA because its nonprofit status frees it from influencing political issues.

Stitt expressed hope that more Americans would understand that “elections have consequences.” He added that this applies both to Democrats who dislike Trump and Republicans who oppose governors like Pritzker and Newsom.

“They’re doing what they think is right for their state or country,” Stitt said. “Let’s give the other side the benefit of the doubt.”

“I would say to the other side, let’s give President Trump the benefit of the doubt; don’t always attack him for trying to protect these cities.”

This isn’t the first time Stitt and Trump have disagreed on policy positions. In February, Stitt disagreed with Trump’s decision to repeal immaculate energy tax credits signed by President Joe Biden in the Inflation Reduction Act through 2022. According to Politico Stitt he said the Trump administration should “treat all types of energy production the same way it changes U.S. policy.”

Additionally, in 2023, Stitt endorsed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over Trump in the 2024 presidential election. Stitt, who voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020, believed at the time that DeSantis was the “right guy” who could defeat Biden.

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Natalia Mittelstadt is a reporter for Just the News. Zachery Schmidt is a digital editor Star News Network and contributed to this story.
“Governor Kevin Stitt” photo by Governor Kevin Stitt.



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