It has been ten days since President Joe Biden was inaugurated, and yet, National Guard troops remain in Washington, D.C. Despite the left’s fearmongering, the event went off without a hitch and there have been no threats since.

Indeed, at this point, troops appear to be spinning their wheels, sleeping in parking garages, and having to order from local restaurants since their food contract came up short. Several states have already recalled their troops. Now, it appears that some politicians are questioning the need for continuing to have members of the Guard stationed in the nation’s capital.

The Hill reported that “Pentagon officials have pointed to unspecified threats in justifying their approval to keep about 5,000 Guardsmen at the Capitol through at least mid-March.”

But GOP lawmakers are taking exception with the prolonged deployment. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) told The Hill, “I sit on the Intelligence Committee, but I’m aware of no specific, credible threat reporting — as distinguished from aspirational, uncoordinated bluster on the internet — that justifies this continued troop presence,” said Sen. Tom Cotton.

“I recognize this is not easy duty, but it’s important duty,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the troops. “The lawmakers that work in those buildings behind you there, they’re really, really grateful and happy. They don’t get a chance to tell you that personally every day, but trust me, they tell me that, how grateful they are.”

In addition to the military presence, local authorities installed fencing and other protective measures. Some have argued that these actions be made permanent. However, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser indicated that these are only temporary measures.

“Based on conversations with federal partners, there are some potentially volatile events upcoming that will require extra security. Fencing and the presence of troops will be a part of that,” Bowser tweeted.

“But we will not accept extra troops or permanent fencing as a long-term fixture in DC,” she added.

However, Republicans are skeptical about the motivation behind those advocating for the military to remain in place. The Hill noted, “Eleven Republicans, led by Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), sent a letter to acting Army Secretary John Whitley this week requesting a briefing on intelligence on threats to the Capitol complex.”

“As you know better than anyone, our National Guard men and women are deployed on short notice and pulled away from their families and jobs,” they wrote. “The National Guard should be used as an option of last resort.”

Whitley defended the extended deployment, telling reporters that there are “several upcoming events” the FBI is concerned about.

“It’s certainly the policy of the Department of Defense that we believe that military forces should be used as a last resort,” Whitley insisted. “We faced an unprecedented crisis over the last three weeks, and our United States military, particularly the National Guard, responded in an exemplary manner. And we will always do that, if there’s a need, for the security of our nation.”

One of the events about which the authorities are supposedly concerned is former President Donald Trump’s upcoming impeachment trial which is set to start on Feb. 9.

Several Republican governors announced that they were recalling their troops while Democratic governors stated that they would send more to try to fill the gaps.

In an op-ed for Fox News, Sen. Cotton argued that the Democrats “overreacted” by deploying 25,000 troops in the first place to “portray President Donald Trump’s 74 million voters as ‘domestic terrorists.’”

So let’s cut through the crap, shall we?

It’s easy to see what this is. Democrats wish to maintain a troop presence for as long as possible to make it seem as if conservatives are such a huge threat that a constant National Guard deployment is needed to ensure that these rabid fascist bigots don’t carry out another assault on the U.S. Capitol building.

In essence, the Democrats and their close friends and allies in the activist media wish to use the National Guard as a propaganda tool. At this point, it has become a way to score cheap political points against Republicans. As stated previously, no violence occurred during the inauguration or after. It can be no wonder, then, that sensible people would start to raise an eyebrow at the insistence that they remain in the city.

To make matters worse, these troops could be deployed elsewhere to help deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. The Hill noted:

Even before deploying the Capitol, the National Guard has been stretched thin over the past year as it was called upon for helping respond to the COVID-19 crisis, supporting local law enforcement during racial justice protests, responding to hurricanes, wildfires and other natural disasters, and bolstering cyber defenses and local poll workers during the elections.

Adding to the tensions, Guard soldiers themselves are becoming susceptible to COVID-19 while in the nation’s capital.

Democrats seem to believe that exaggerating the threat will actually fool the American public into believing that Trump supporters are dangerous. Leftist lawmakers are still seizing on the riots at the U.S. Capitol to smear their GOP colleagues. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) literally accused Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) of attempted murder on social media to score points. (See: Did AOC Just Incite Retaliatory Violence Against a Sitting Senator?)

Still, it is worth remembering that this is yet another example of overreach on the part of the Democrats. Like the whole impeachment spectacle that is set to begin on Feb. 9, this will redound negatively on the left, not the right. These stunts are nothing more than red meat that far-leftists throw to their base. No sensible person outside of this bubble actually falls for these displays of idiocy. But they do see that the left is once again insulting their intelligence and they will regret it come 2022.