President Trump heightened tensions with the Democratic Governor of Illinois on Saturday by expressing his intentions to potentially deploy the national guard to the state.
Trump took aim at Governor JB Pritzker for refusing the commander-in-chiefs help to solve an ongoing crime crisis in Chicago.
His latest remarks came even after another weekend of chaos which saw six people in the Windy City killed and two dozen shot.
‘Six people were killed, and 24 people were shot, in Chicago last weekend,’ Trump wrote in a furious Truth Social post on Saturday night.
He called out the ‘weak and pathetic Governor’ to ‘straighten it out FAST’, warning that if Pritzker fails to control the crime rates, Trump may feel driven to take action.
‘JB Pritzker, the weak and pathetic Governor of Illinois, just said that he doesn’t need help in preventing CRIME,’ Trump said.
‘He is CRAZY!!! He better straighten it out, FAST, or we’re coming! MAGA.’
Trump’s latest dig at Pritzker comes days after he called the governor a ‘slob’ and suggested he should ‘spend more time in the gym.’
Trump took aim at Governor JB Pritzker for refusing the commander-in-chiefs help to solve an ongoing crime crisis in Chicago
Despite witnessing another violent weekend with six fatalities in Chicago and two dozen injuries, Pritzker, as seen earlier this week, was the focus of Trump’s comments.
Trump had previously federalized the police force in Washington to curb further ‘bloodshed’ and deployed hundreds of National Guard troops following an assault on a former DOJ employee.
‘D.C. has been under siege from thugs and killers, but now, D.C. is back under Federal Control where it belongs. The White House is in charge,’ Trump declared at that time.
‘The Military and our Great Police will liberate this City, scrape away the filth, and make it safe, clean, habitable and beautiful once more!’
On Saturday, he praised his achievements in DC, noting in a subsequent post: ‘DC is virtually, in just 14 days, a CRIME FREE ZONE. The people living and working there are ecstatic!’
Trump previously singled out New York City, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Chicago and Oakland, California as potential future locations where federal troops could take the streets of American cities.
‘We’re going to take back our capital,’ Trump said, ‘and then we’ll look at other cities also. But other cities are studying what we’re doing.’
But Pritzker has called Trump’s approach ‘unconstitutional’ and ‘a dangerous power grab.’
Pritzker has called Trump’s approach ‘unconstitutional’ and ‘a dangerous power grab’
Trump federalized the police force in Washington to prevent further ‘bloodshed’ and sent hundreds of troops from the National Guard in to clean up crime after a former DOGE employee was attacked in the streets
Pritzker also fired back at the president’s comments about his weight this week, stating that ‘from [his] perspective, it takes one to know one on the weight question.’
‘The president himself is not in good shape. He ought to respond to that.’
Some strategists have suggested Pritzker could be gearing up for an election battle.
He’s not the only Democrat in the state pushing back, with the Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson calling Trump’s plan ‘out of control’.
The Chicago Police Department will be barred from helping federal authorities with civil immigration enforcement or any related patrols, traffic stops and checkpoints during the surge, according to an executive order signed by Mayor Brandon Johnson.
The mayor directed all city departments to guard the constitutional rights of Chicago residents ‘amidst the possibility of imminent militarized immigration or National Guard deployment by the federal government.’
When asked during a news conference about federal agents who are presumably ‘taking orders,’ Johnson replied: ‘Yeah, and I don´t take orders from the federal government.’
Johnson also blocked Chicago police from wearing face coverings to hide their identities, as most ICE agents have adopted since the Trump administration took charge this year.
