Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani issued fiery statements opposing President Donald Trump’s escalating threats to deploy federal troops into the largely Democratic cities, a continuation of his weaponization of the government against his opponents.
Mamdani, asked about the idea of National Guard troops being sent to New York City, cautioned that the potential illegality of an act would not dissuade Trump from pursuing it. “The first thing is we have to prepare for the inevitability of that deployment,” he said. “We cannot try to convince ourselves that because something is illegal, Donald Trump will not do it.”
Pritzker, in response to a post from Trump threatening to sick his so-called “Department of War” on an American city, called Trump a “wannabe dictator.”
Trump on Saturday amplified his promises to send National Guard troops and immigration agents to Chicago by posting a parody image from “Apocalypse Now” featuring a ball of flames as helicopters zoom over the nation’s third-largest city, according to The Associated Press.
“I love the smell of deportations in the morning,” Trump wrote on his social media site. “Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR.”
A rally and march formed in downtown Chicago Saturday evening against the increase in ICE operations, which were expected to begin that day. About 300 federal agents were using North Chicago’s Naval Station Great Lakes as a logistical hub for the operations.
While Trump has attributed the surge in immigration enforcement activity in Chicago and other blue cities to “out of control” dangerous criminals, his claims defy evidence, which show decreases in violent crime. In 2024, Chicago’s violent crime rate was down 11% compared with 2023 levels, and about half what it was in the years leading up to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the BBC.
Trump’s weekend post follows his repeated threats to add Chicago to the list of other Democratic-led cities he’s targeted for expanded federal enforcement. His administration is set to step up immigration enforcement in Chicago, as it did in Los Angeles, and deploy National Guard troops.
In addition to sending troops to Los Angeles in June, Trump has deployed them since last month in Washington, as part of his unprecedented law enforcement takeover of the nation’s capital.
He’s also suggested that Baltimore and New Orleans could get the same treatment, and on Friday even mentioned federal authorities possibly heading for Portland, Oregon, to “wipe ’em out,” meaning protesters. He could have been mistakenly describing video from demonstrations in that city years ago.
Details about Trump’s promised Chicago operation have been sparse, but there’s already widespread opposition. City and state leaders have said they plan to sue the Trump administration. Pritzker, a possible 2028 presidential candidate, is also fiercely opposed to it.
The president “is threatening to go to war with an American city,” Pritzker wrote on X over an image of Trump’s post. “This is not a joke. This is not normal.”
He added: “Donald Trump isn’t a strongman, he’s a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.”
Trump has suggested that he has nearly limitless powers when it comes to deploying the National Guard. At times he’s even touched on questions about his being a dictator.
“Most people are saying, ‘If you call him a dictator, if he stops crime, he can be whatever he wants’ — I am not a dictator, by the way,” Trump said last month. He added, “Not that I don’t have — I would — the right to do anything I want to do.”
“I’m the president of the United States,” Trump said then. “If I think our country is in danger — and it is in danger in these cities — I can do it.”
Trump began putting the federal government to work for him within hours of taking office in January, and he’s been collecting and using power in novel ways ever since. It’s a high-velocity push to carry out his political agendas and grudges.
This past month, hundreds of federal agents and National Guard troops fanned out across Washington after Trump drew on a never-used law that allows him to take control of law enforcement in the nation’s capital. He’s threatened similar deployments in other cities run by Democrats, including Baltimore, Chicago, New York and New Orleans. He also fired a Federal Reserve governor, pointing to unproven claims of mortgage fraud.
That’s not weaponizing government, White House spokesperson Harrison Fields told The Associated Press; it’s wielding power.
“What the nation is witnessing today is the execution of the most consequential administration in American history,” Fields reportedly said, “one that is embracing common sense, putting America first, and fulfilling the mandate of the American people.”
