CHICAGO URBAN DAILY
CHICAGO (CHICAGO URBAN DAILY)— President Donald Trump is back at it with Chicago — this time with an offer, a warning, and a flourish.
On Tuesday, Trump posted on Truth Social that “Chicago is suffering an unprecedented and particularly violent crime wave that is getting worse by the day,” and said the federal government could “extinguish it quickly and completely” — but only if Mayor Brandon Johnson or Gov. JB Pritzker asks. “What is wrong with them? Why aren’t they asking?” he wrote. “TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!”
Trump has already played this card elsewhere: he deployed the National Guard to Washington, D.C., and sent personnel to Memphis for the same stated purpose.
Here’s the rub. Chicago Tribune data shows the city’s homicide numbers are actually down slightly — 328 homicide victims through Oct. 3, five fewer than the same period in 2025. Homicides have declined every year from 2022 through 2025 after the pandemic-era spike. Most of this year’s victims were killed by gunfire, and the Austin neighborhood leads the city with 28.
Johnson has an answer ready. Back in July, he told Trump to stop offering troops and start investing: put money into affordable housing and the cost of living, and violence would go down. Pritzker, for his part, has said there is no emergency that justifies federalizing the Guard or sending active-duty troops into Illinois, and has pointed to state and local police as the ones doing the daily work.
An offer on the table, a refusal before it’s even made, and a city caught in the middle. Whether this ends as cooperation or a courtroom battle is the question.
Stay tuned to Chicago Urban Daily as this fight unfolds.
Reported by Chicago Urban Daily News. Visit chicagourbandailynews.com for updates.
