Trump amps up US crackdown rhetoric with Chicago ‘war’ threat
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Demonstrators protesting outside a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Sept 5 in Broadview, Illinois.
PHOTO: AFP
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WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump threatened on Sept 6 to unleash his newly rebranded “Department of War” on Chicago, further heightening tensions over his push to deploy troops into Democrat-led US cities.
The move seeks to replicate an operation in the US capital, Washington, DC, where he has deployed National Guard troops and surged federal agents to conduct arrests and deportations, sparking backlash from local residents.
“Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” Mr Trump posted on Sept 6 on his Truth Social account.
The post featured an apparent artificial intelligence image of Mr Trump and the quote, “I love the smell of deportations in the morning” – both referencing the 1979 film, Apocalypse Now.
On Sept 5, Mr Trump signed an order changing the name
The Democratic governor of Illinois, where Chicago is located, voiced outrage at Mr Trump’s post.
“The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city. This is not a joke. This is not normal,” Governor J.B. Pritzker wrote in a post on X.
“Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator,” he added.
Mr Trump’s troop and federal agent deployments – which began in June in Los Angeles, followed by Washington – have prompted legal challenges and protests, with critics calling them an authoritarian show of force.
In addition to Chicago, he has threatened to replicate the surges in Democrat-led Baltimore and New Orleans.
On Sept 6 in the US capital, where National Guard troops have been deployed since Mr Trump declared a “crime emergency” in August, a large protest march wound through downtown
