It's not about stopping crime. It's about normalizing the sight of armed troops in cities.

Trump has already stated many times, not jokingly that he wants a third term. He acknowledges that he can't be elected for a third term. However a number of legal "experts", including noted crackpot Alan Dershowitz, have noted that election is not the only route to a third term.

Crime is indeed not the reason (you need the police for that). It looks ominous when considering this in the light of the purges in the military leadership and MAGA's repeatedly demonstrated demand for officials and civil servants to bend their knees in absolute submission. This doesn't look reassuring when their slogan is "might makes right".

Well it’s true it’s not stopping crime. But I think you’re giving them too much credit with this long game strategic thinking of normalizing troops in cities.

...the sight of armed troops in *democratic* or *non-MAGA* cities

https://theconversation.com/us-violent-crime-is-at-its-lowes...

I guess more violent crime would have been a small price to pay if it had made Trump look bad.

I moved to $Satellite_Urban_Area from $Urban_Area to take a cybersecurity job. In $Urban_Area we would almost certainly have had metal detectors and other measures. Due to the military presence here in $Satellite_Urban_Area this place has a reputation for being armed to the teeth. Although there was no open carry in the office, I know for a fact that a number of mostly ex-military brought sidearms to the office. A part of this area was at one time "the murder capital of the country" and is infamous for a shootout between residents of that part, gangs vs military. The place has a rep.

Is that a bad thing?

I don't view metal detectors and huge cast concrete reception desks as a good thing, I view them as indicators that earlier interdiction has failed; I try not to hang around places like that, unless I know that there are also actually people with guns who are trained to use them.