President Donald Trump said Tuesday he intends to “clean up Chicago,” brushing aside objections from what he called the city’s failed Democratic leadership.
Over Labor Day weekend, nearly 60 people were shot and at least nine killed. Chicago, under Mayor Brandon Johnson, recorded 572 homicides in 2024 — its 13th straight year as the U.S. city with the highest murder toll.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker “has repeatedly resisted calls from President Donald J. Trump to ask for assistance in quelling the violence,” the White House said. Pritzker has insisted, “We’ve been trying to prevent crime and it’s been working,” adding, “We have our job, which is to fight violent crime on the streets of our city — and by the way, we’re succeeding.” He has argued that “National Guard troops or any kind of troops on the streets of an American city don’t belong unless there is an insurrection, unless there is truly an emergency – and there is not,” dismissing Trump’s warnings as an effort to “manufacture a crisis.”
Pritzker says Trump is looking for any reason to deploy the guard.
🚨 BREAKING: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker announced Trump has already begun STAGING Texas National Guard for deployment into Chicago
IT’S HAPPENING!
Send them in, 47! 🇺🇸
FREE CHICAGO! pic.twitter.com/YFxJfdCc41
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) September 2, 2025
Johnson, speaking on Labor Day, was defiant: “No federal troops in the city of Chicago. No militarized force in the city of Chicago. We’re going to defend our democracy in the city of Chicago.”
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is speaking at a Labor Day rally, yelling, "No federal troops in the city of Chicago! We're gonna defend our democracy in the city of Chicago!"
There were 53 shootings in the city over the weekend. pic.twitter.com/cUPGC3rj4r
— DeVory Darkins (@devorydarkins) September 1, 2025
The White House countered: “Despite pleas from residents, members of the city council, and even MSNBC, Pritzker is too blinded by Trump Derangement Syndrome to take action in the best interest of his constituents and end the bloodshed. The Trump Administration’s message to Chicagoans and residents in Democrat-run cities nationwide is simple: you don’t have to live like this.”
Asked if he had decided to send in the National Guard, Trump was blunt: “We’re going in. I didn’t say when we’re going in. … This isn’t a political thing. I have an obligation.”
He added: “If Pritzker would call me up, I would love to do it. Now, we’re going to do it anyway. We have the right to do it. Because I have an obligation to protect this country and that includes Baltimore. … Baltimore’s a very unsafe place.”
Watch the clip below:
🚨 BREAKING — TRUMP ON NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYMENT TO CHICAGO: "WE'RE GOING IN." 🔥
"This isn't a political thing. I have an obligation. When 20 people are KlLLED over the last 2½ weeks and 75 are shot with bullets … we're going in…"
Chicago will be LIBERATED! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/6H2LIxmdC0
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) September 2, 2025
