Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker fired back at Donald Trump, claiming that Chicago does not want the National Guard deployed after the president indicated on Tuesday that it is a matter of when, not if, troops will be sent to the Windy City.
“I’m aware that the President of the United States likes to go on television and beg me to call and ask him for troops,” Pritzker said during a press conference. “I find this extraordinarily strange as Chicago does not want troops on our streets.”
The Democratic governor said that he has experience of asking the president for assistance only to have the “rug pulled out from underneath me when execution meets reality.”
“I refuse to play a reality game show with Donald Trump again,” Pritzker said.
The governor warned that the president is positioning armed federal agents and staging military vehicles on federal property. He said he believes the staging had already started on Monday, and he expected the deployment in the coming days.
“We know for anything that’s happening that the Trump plan is to use any excuse to deploy armed military personnel to Chicago,” Pritzker warned.
“If someone slings a sandwich at an ICE agent, Trump will try to go on TV and declare an emergency in Chicago,” he said. “I’m imploring everyone, if and when that happens, do not take the bait.”
He argued Trump’s effort was not about fighting crime or making the city safer but about the president “testing his political power and producing a political drama to cover up for his corruption.”
Pritzker also warned of unidentified people in masks planning to raid Latino communities. He blasted Stephen Miller, claiming there is reason to believe the deputy White House chief of staff chose to target Chicago in September because of celebrations of Mexican Independence Day that happen there every year.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson also reiterated on Tuesday that his city did not want troops deployed there. He said instead, there were other steps the federal government could take to help with violence and crime in his city.
Johnson said the city needed the federal government to end the constant flow of guns into the state and city.
“The vast majority of guns do not come from Chicago. They are not made in Cook County. They are not bought in the state of Illinois. These guns come from red states,” he said. “They are coming from Indiana. They are coming from Mississippi. They are coming from Louisiana. That is the harsh reality, whether Republicans like it or not. Occupying our city will do nothing to solve this problem.”
“Chicago will continue to have a violence problem as long as red states continue to have a gun problem,” he argued.
The press conference with Illinois and Chicago leaders came soon after Trump indicated again on Tuesday that he would deploy troops to the city. A reporter asked him in the Oval Office whether he had decided he would definitely send in the National Guard.
“Well, we’re going in. I didn’t say when. We’re going in,” Trump responded. “I have an obligation.”
The president repeated false claims about Chicago being a “hellhole” after he called it the “murder capital of the world” on social media, despite it not even being the most dangerous city in the U.S.
“I would love to have Governor Pritzker call me. I’d gain respect for him. And say ‘we do have a problem, and we’d love you to send in the troops because you know what? The people, they have to be protected.’”
Pritzker responded just moments later, calling the president’s remarks “unhinged.”
“No, I will not call the president asking him to send troops to Chicago. I’ve made that clear already,” he said.
Pritzker said that the rumors have been swirling about what the president had planned, but said the administration has not been working in coordination with the city, county, or state. The governor slammed the federal government’s refusal to coordinate with local law enforcement and the governor’s office as extraordinary.
