Trump Threatens Chicago With Federal Takeover Despite Falling Crime

Democrats decry a “manufactured crisis” as the White House touts a post-DC crackdown and eyes Chicago, despite data showing declining violent crime.

By Alexis Sterling, Nation of Change

US President Donald Trump on Friday escalated his federal crackdown rhetoric, saying Chicago is “probably next” in line for the kind of occupation already underway in Washington, DC. The Oval Office declaration triggered an immediate wave of defiance from Illinois leaders and national Democrats, who condemned the threat as authoritarian overreach and a political spectacle disconnected from reality.

“After we do this, we’ll go to another location, and we’ll make it safe also,” Trump told reporters, referring to the federalization of Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department and the deployment of National Guard troops from the district and five Republican-controlled states. “We’re going to make our cities very, very safe. Chicago’s a mess. You have an incompetent mayor. Grossly incompetent and we’ll straighten that one out probably next. That will be our next one after this. And it won’t even be tough.”

The remarks came just days after Trump declared a public safety emergency in Washington on August 11. Yet city statistics show violent crime is down 26 percent from a year ago and at its second-lowest level since 1966. Critics say the emergency declaration has less to do with crime than with political theater. Unhoused and mentally ill residents have reported having their belongings destroyed or seized during sweeps. Trump has also threatened to oust DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, calling the city a “crime-infested rat hole.”

The federal footprint in DC is substantial: around 2,000 National Guard troops have been deployed, while the Metropolitan Police Department has been placed under federal control. Trump has warned that similar deployments could be rolled out to Baltimore, Los Angeles, New York, Oakland, and San Francisco—all cities where violent crime is trending downward, in some cases at historic lows.

But unlike DC, where the federal government can take over local policing under home rule laws, Trump would face major legal obstacles in Chicago and other cities. “President Trump can’t seize control of the Chicago police or any other local department outside of DC,” Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) said on social media Friday. “The military cannot and will not patrol the streets of Chicago, and I will work with state and local officials to ensure that doesn’t happen.”

Illinois officials swiftly made their opposition clear. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson issued a sharp rebuke: “the problem with the president’s approach is that it is uncoordinated, uncalled for, and unsound.” He added that “If the Trump administration is serious about driving down violence in Chicago, or anywhere else in America, then he should not have taken over $800 million away from violence prevention.”

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker accused the president of staging a dangerous charade. “After using Los Angeles and Washington, DC as his testing ground for authoritarian overreach, Trump is now openly flirting with the idea of taking over other states and cities,” he said on X. “Trump’s goal is to incite fear in our communities and destabilize existing public safety efforts—all to create a justification to further abuse his power. He’s playing a game and creating a spectacle for the press to play along with.”

Pritzker emphasized that the state has achieved progress on its own. “We don’t play those games. Our commitment to law and order is delivering results. Crime rates are improving. Homicides are down by more than 30% in Chicago in the last year alone. Our progress in lowering crime has been made possible with [community violence intervention] programs that they’re defunding.”

On Saturday, Pritzker doubled down with a formal statement: “there is no emergency that warrants the president of the United States federalizing the Illinois National Guard, deploying the National Guard from other states, or sending active duty military within our own borders. Donald Trump is attempting to manufacture a crisis, politicize Americans who serve in uniform, and continue abusing his power to distract from the pain he is causing working families.”

Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton, currently running for US Senate, said Trump had badly miscalculated. “if Trump wants to take his ego trip on tour, he picked the wrong city,” she declared. “Chicago doesn’t bow down to kings or roll out the red carpet for dictators. As a Black woman from the South Side, I can assure you… your political circus isn’t welcome here.”

Illinois’s congressional delegation also voiced alarm. “President Trump: You are not welcome in Chicago,” wrote Congresswoman Robin Kelly. “Sending the National Guard endangers Black communities already overpoliced and under-invested in. If you cared about saving lives, you’d pass gun safety laws and fund community violence intervention.”

National Democrats echoed the warnings. In a Sunday CNN interview, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) cautioned against letting the White House use military force for political gain. “we should continue to support local law enforcement and not simply allow Donald Trump to play games with the lives of the American people as part of his effort to manufacture a crisis and create a distraction because he’s deeply unpopular,” he said. “I strongly support the statement that was issued by Gov. Pritzker making clear that there’s no basis, no authority, for Donald Trump to potentially try to drop federal troops into the city of Chicago.”

Democratic strategist Mike Nellis was even blunter. “there is no emergency that merits whatever Trump is plotting in Chicago with the military. None,” he wrote on Bluesky. “It’s another bullshit manufactured crisis from a desperate president who wants to extend his power and score cheap political points.”

Despite Trump’s claims, the numbers contradict the White House’s framing. Chicago has seen a “double-digit dip in violent crime and a historic drop in homicides,” according to city data. In Washington, violent crime is at decades-low levels. And in the other cities Trump named—Baltimore, Los Angeles, New York, Oakland, and San Francisco—violent crime is trending downward, not upward.