President Donald Trump mentioned he has his sights on Chicago as up subsequent for a takeover, as his administration escalates tensions with cities run by Black Democratic mayors over crime allegations.
Whereas applauding the Nationwide Guard, which he deployed in D.C. amid a “crime emergency,” the president declared on Aug. 11, Trump praised the troops for an “unimaginable job working with the police.”
“We haven’t had to herald the common navy, which we’re keen to do,” President Trump mentioned on Friday contained in the Oval Workplace. “And after we do that, we’ll go to a different location…We’re going to make our nation very secure. We’re going to make our cities very, very secure.”
He particularly referred to as out Chicago, which he characterised as “a multitude.”
“You could have an incompetent mayor, grossly incompetent. And we’ll straighten that one out, in all probability subsequent. That’ll be our subsequent one after this, and it received’t even be robust,” mentioned the president.
Trump claimed that Chicago residents themselves are “screaming for us to return.” He continued, “They’re carrying purple hats similar to this…African American girls, lovely girls, are saying, ‘Please, President Trump, come to Chicago. Please.’”
The president then claimed he “did nice with the Black vote,” including, “They need one thing to occur. So I believe Chicago might be our subsequent.”
Whereas Trump did make inroads with Black voters, practically 85% of Black voters supported his opponent within the 2024 presidential election, former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump signaling that he’ll goal Chicago–which might embrace the deployment of the Nationwide Guard, as he did in Los Angeles–doubles down on earlier threats to take federal motion towards cities with giant Black and Latino populations and led by Black mayors.
Angela Angel, senior advisor for Black Lives Matter PAC, informed theGrio weeks in the past throughout Trump’s deployment of Nationwide Guard in Los Angeles, that it was a “testing floor” for cities like Chicago.
Angel mentioned any perceived assist from the Trump administration has come within the type of “terrifying” actions akin to “masked ICE brokers kicking down doorways with out warrants, kidnapping Americans and immigrants alike with out due course of, and federal troops terrorizing Black communities for the crime of present.”
The political operative and organizer informed theGrio, “Let’s be clear: this isn’t about security. That is occupation. We’re watching Black activists slammed to the bottom and brutalized for allegedly evading metro fares. This isn’t regulation enforcement. It’s state-sanctioned terrorism with a badge.”
The Black Lives Matter chief pointed to an irony in historical past, on condition that, in 1965, federal troops have been despatched to “shield Black folks from white supremacist violence,” referring to President Lyndon B. Johnson deploying troops to guard civil rights protesters in Alabama forward of the Selma to Montgomery march.
Now, Angel mentioned, “In 2025, Trump is utilizing troops to hold out violence towards Black and Brown communities. That’s the reversal. That’s the hazard.”
Final week, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson blasted Trump’s crackdown in D.C. and the president’s criticisms of the Windy Metropolis, telling Democracy Now!, “The basic distinction between the authoritarianism that’s coming from the White Home versus the collective neighborhood strategy that we’re main right here in Chicago is that the president is seeking to resuscitate the sins and the evil of the previous, and the town of Chicago is shifting progressively ahead.”
Johnson touted the actions his administration has taken to deal with crime within the metropolis, together with investing in psychological well being and behavioral well being. In consequence, Chicago has seen a 30% decline in homicides, a 40% discount in shootings, and an almost 35% decline in robberies.
“There may be definitely extra work to be finished, however we’re not going to remodel our cities if we revert again to a time previously the place the habit of jails and incarceration has not led to safer communities,” mentioned Mayor Johnson.
Accusing Trump of “hypocrisy,” he added, “If he was critical about remodeling our cities, he wouldn’t have taken over $800 million out of the finances that was designed for violence prevention.”
