President Donald Trump is in war mode, and his battle plans are clear. During his eulogy on Sunday at Charlie Kirk’s memorial, the president recalled his last conversation with the slain right-wing podcaster. “‘Please, sir, save Chicago,’” Kirk supposedly told Trump, who made it clear to the tens of thousands gathered at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., that he intended to honor Kirk’s wish. “We’re going to save Chicago from horrible crime,” Trump said, and then proceeded to attack Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker.
There had been a brief reprieve for the Windy City. After the president posted a violent meme on Truth Social in which he signaled an incoming onslaught (“Chipocalypse Now”), on Sept. 12 he announced a temporary pause on his plan to federalize the National Guard and deploy it to supposedly rid Chicago of crime. Instead, he shifted his focus to Memphis, Tenn., as the next stage for his law-and-order theater. But now Chicago has once again found itself in the presidential crosshairs.
None of this is normal. Not the fact that the president of the United States used a eulogy to divide a fractured nation even further by spewing bile. (“I hate my opponent, and I don’t want the best for them,” Trump said.) Not the fact that his presidency is built on his craven desire for personal retribution instead of pursuing what’s best for the American people. Not the fact that he has effectively declared war on Democratic-led cities that have large Black and brown populations. As M. Gessen wrote in the New York Times, “President Trump is remaking the country in his image: crude, harsh, gratuitously mean.”
It’s important to remind ourselves: American cities are under attack by an American president, who is using federal power and the military as part of his authoritarian power grab.
With all the coverage devoted to Kirk’s assassination and late-night show host Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension by ABC and Disney after pressure from the administration, much of the mainstream media and political establishment has ignored Trump’s renewed threats against Chicago and continued occupation of Washington, D.C. But it’s important to remind ourselves: American cities are under attack by an American president, who is using federal power and the military as part of his authoritarian power grab.
Trump’s actions are almost certain violations of the Posse Comitatus Act, as well as other laws and constitutional norms. Retired generals and other high-ranking officers, as well as members of the national security community, have publicly warned that deploying the country’s military against Americans for law enforcement harms morale and the forces’ legitimacy.
“The moral injuries of this operation, I think, will be enduring,” a California National Guard officer told the New York Times in July during the president’s action against L.A. “This is not what the military of our country was designed to do, at all.”
The soldier’s words also apply to what’s happening in the nation’s capital. Six weeks after Trump announced unprecedented actions to fight a non-existent crime epidemic, the federalized National Guard is dutifully picking up garbage and participating in beautification projects, rousting homeless people and supporting Immigration and Customs Enforcement with its mass deportation campaign. As agents roam the streets, the city’s economy is suffering. Residents are not venturing out to dinner as often. Restaurants and other businesses cannot find immigrants and other laborers to hire. Crime, which is at a 30-year low, is declining even more — but then, so is tourism.
But the effects of Trump’s actions and threats are not just being felt in the cities he is targeting. His unprecedented use of the American military also has deeply troubling connections to the country’s declining moral authority and leadership role in the world.
Retired Navy Capt. Jon Duffy, who served in the military and national security sector for 30 years, drew a connection in Defense One between the president’s domestic actions and the administration’s recent series of lethal strikes on vessels in the Caribbean carrying alleged drug traffickers. The Pentagon’s attacks were “not the action of a strong nation,” he wrote.
What happens abroad does not stay abroad. A government that stretches legal authority overseas will not hesitate to do the same at home. The same commander-in-chief who ordered a strike on a boat in international waters has already ordered National Guard troops into American cities over the objections of local leaders. The logic is identical: redefine the threat, erase legal distinctions, and justify force as the first tool. Today it is “traffickers” in the Caribbean. Tomorrow it will be “criminals” in Chicago or “radicals” in Atlanta.
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According to a new CBS News/YouGov poll, a majority of Americans (60%) oppose Trump’s actions and view them as a threat to their freedom. At 85%, Republicans are far more likely to support using the National Guard in Washington, D.C., and other cities. Democrats drastically oppose this by an even higher margin (93%).
Americans who live in rural parts of the country — who tend to be more conservative — support sending the military to cities, while urbanites oppose the move. “Opinion is more tied to partisanship than geography, though,” CBS reporters Anthony Salvanto, Jennifer De Pinto and Fred Backus wrote.
America’s cities have long been linked in the popular — i.e. white — imagination with Black and brown crime, and a fear of immigrants. Decades of research has shown that racial animus and racism are tied to support of the GOP, conservatism and, now, Trumpism. A willingness to use the military in cities and not in rural, majority white parts of the country is greatly influenced by those dynamics and how the modern Republican Party, with its history of law-and-order and Southern strategy, has exploited and encouraged those fears and anxieties for political gain.
The CBS/YouGov poll also reflects the type of authoritarian training and conditioning that influences the behavior of many American conservatives. “To those in favor, it’s not a case of red-versus-blue cities,” Salvanto, De Pinto and Backus wrote. “They’d support the Guard being sent to either Democratic- or Republican-led places, or coming to their own local area as well. To those opposed, they believe the president is acting out of politics more than crime prevention.”
At Kirk’s memorial, as he attacked Pritzker, Trump said, referring to crime, “No, they don’t have it under control.” Then he made what seemed like a promise: “But we’ll have it under control very quickly.”
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In July, Chicago Marine Week marked the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Marine Corps. As part of that celebration, there were various displays and interactive events held across the city, including Michigan Avenue and the Magnificent Mile.
One of the displays was across the street from the Tribune Tower, near the Wrigley Building and the Apple Store in Pioneer Court. One beautiful evening, a dozen people were gawking at the LAV-25 armored vehicles. Some were trying to climb on top of them.
I looked at these big, angry, loud green machines, with their 25mm chain guns, missiles and other weapons, and let out a deep sigh. I took a picture of these weapons of war with Trump Tower looming in the background and sent it to a friend who lives in a solidly blue part of the country. “Coming soon to a city near you,” I wrote.
When that happens, it will not be funny. It will be terrifying.
