Trump Threatens to Send National Guard to Fix Chicago ‘Mess’

Robert McWhirter, a civil rights lawyer and constitutional law expert, said President Trump has some authority over the National Guard in the nation’s capital but a decision to send them into other cities could end up in court.

President Donald Trump has called Chicago “a mess” and threatened to tap the National Guard to tackle crime in the third-largest US city, expanding federal deployments beyond Washington, DC.

His comments, though, come just as Chicago is on the rebound. Murders fell to the lowest in more than a decade, traffic at the city’s main airport hit a record in June and investment is coming back —  a billionaire soccer team owner is building a $650-million stadium and a tech startup is pouring $1 billion into quantum computing in the South Side.

The Windy City is even getting a new publicly traded company, a stark turnaround after heavyweights such as financial conglomerate Citadel and Boeing Co. announced they were leaving in 2022. Swiss cement maker Holcim AG is moving its $29-billion North American spinoff, Amrize, to an office downtown — the first public company to relocate to Chicago since Kellanova moved its headquarters from Battle Creek, Michigan, in 2023.

“We’re driving violence down in the city of Chicago, we’re moving in the right direction,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said at a news conference on Sunday. “What this president is intending to do is not just unconstitutional, but it’s very much a threat to our democracy.”

Trump, who moved the DC Police Department under federal control and ordered about 2,000 National Guard troops to patrol the nation’s capital, said on Friday that his next steps could involve other large, Democratic-led cities he has repeatedly criticized for crime and mismanagement. He called Johnson “incompetent” and added that Chicago was “probably next.”

On Saturday, the Washington Post reported that the Pentagon has been planning a military deployment to Chicago for weeks. The move is sold as a crackdown on crime, homelessness and undocumented immigration, the newspaper said, citing officials familiar with the matter.

Illinois Rebukes

That sparked rebukes from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a possible 2028 Democratic White House candidate, as well as Illinois Representatives Mike Quigley and Raja Krishnamoorthi, and Senator Tammy Duckworth.

“President Trump’s illegal attempt to militarize Chicago will do nothing but spark chaos and create spectacle,” Krishnamoorthi said. “There is no emergency in Illinois that warrants federalizing our National Guard or deploying active-duty troops into our communities.”

On Monday, Trump doubled down on his attacks on Johnson on social media, adding that crime in DC has tumbled since he sent troops into the city with no murders in nine days.

Crime is down in Chicago. Murders dropped 32% to 188 in the first half of the year, the lowest for the period since 2014, according to police data. Violent crime fell 23% in the period and vehicle theft declined 28%.

Violence is often cited as the No. 1 concern for the business community, with leaders from McDonald’s Corp. and CME Group Inc. having criticized the city in recent years. The Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, a group of prominent business leaders, has raised an additional $45 million to fight crime, according to Bob Boik, senior vice president for public safety with the committee. That’s on top of the $100 million announced last year.

The latest donations came from companies including United Airlines, Bank of Montreal, Exelon, Mesirow as well as the Sue Ling Gun Foundation, the Crown Family and Craig J. Duchossois, whose family is known for its ties to the Churchill Downs racetrack.

--------

Watch Bloomberg Radio LIVE on YouTube

Weekdays 7am-6pm ET

Follow us on X

Subscribe to our Podcasts:

Bloomberg Daybreak

Bloomberg Surveillance

Bloomberg Intelligence

Balance of Power

Bloomberg Businessweek

Listen on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app:

Apple CarPlay

Android Auto

Visit our YouTube channels:

Bloomberg Podcasts

Bloomberg Television

Bloomberg Originals