Tensions have increased between Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and President Donald Trump following the president’s recent social media activity. Trump posted an artificial intelligence-generated image of himself styled after a character from the movie Apocalypse Now, referencing military action and writing, “I love the smell of deportations in the morning…” He added, “Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” accompanied by helicopter emojis.
The posts come amid Trump’s repeated threats to expand federal immigration enforcement operations in Chicago. He has suggested deploying National Guard troops to the city, citing crime rates as justification. Trump previously sent National Guard forces to Washington, D.C., and claims that move resulted in reduced crime.
Illinois officials have pushed back against these proposals. They argue that Chicago is not among the cities with the highest overall crime rates and point out that homicides have declined since a spike during the COVID-19 pandemic. Last month, Mayor Johnson’s office released statistics showing homicides are down 32.3 percent and overall violent crime is down 21.6 percent compared to previous years.
In response to Trump’s comments and potential actions, Johnson signed an executive order directing city agencies and law enforcement not to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement efforts. The mayor said this was necessary due to “escalating threats from the federal government.”
Johnson responded directly on X (formerly Twitter) by posting a screenshot of Trump’s AI image post: “The President’s threats are beneath the honor of our nation, but the reality is that he wants to occupy our city and break our Constitution. We must defend our democracy from this authoritarianism by protecting each other and protecting Chicago from Donald Trump.”
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson commented on recent violence in Chicago: “Eight people were killed and over 50 people were wounded last weekend in Chicago but local Democrat leaders are more upset about a post from the President—that tells you everything you need to know about the Democrats’ twisted priorities and why Chicago has had the most murderers of any US city for 13 consecutive years.”
Mayor Johnson also addressed gun violence in his statement on X: “[Chicago Police Department] CPD has taken 24,000 guns off the street since I took office, most of which originated from Republican-run states outside Illinois. The Trump administration’s budget cuts to federal gun violence prevention agencies like ATF will lead to fewer investigations and operations with local law enforcement, endangering our historic progress on community safety.”
President Trump continued his criticism on Truth Social: “At least 54 people were shot in Chicago over the weekend, 8 people were killed. The last two weekends were similar. Chicago is the worst and most dangerous city in the World, by far. Pritzker needs help badly, he just doesn’t know it yet. I will solve the crime problem fast, just like I did in DC. Chicago will be safe again, and soon. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” In other posts he described Chicago as “the murder capital of the world” and claimed that “crime is totally out of control.”
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