Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson sharply criticized President Donald Trump over the weekend, warning that if the administration deploys the National Guard to the city as part of a crime crackdown, the people of the city will “rise up.”
Trump indicated over the weekend that Chicago could be the next city targeted for enhanced federal law enforcement measures, a proposal that also drew pushback from Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, who dismissed it as a “manufactured crisis.”
“The city of Chicago does not need a military-occupied state. That’s not who we are,” Johnson said in response to a question regarding his feelings about National Guard troops and federal agents being sent to the city.
“And I commend the work of Mayor Bass, my colleague and, you know, all the folks in Los Angeles who stood up and fought, you know, against this, you know, authoritarianism. Here’s the bottom line,” Johnson went on. “They don’t have police power. There’s nothing they can do.”
