Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker raised a wild conspiracy idea Sunday for why President Trump is contemplating deploying Nationwide Guard troops to Chicago and different blue cities tormented by crime.
“He has different goals, apart from combating crime,” Pritzker confidently acknowledged, throughout an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
“The opposite goals are that he’d prefer to cease the elections 2026 or, frankly, take management of these elections,” the governor continued.
“He’ll simply declare that there’s some drawback with an election, after which he’s acquired troops on the bottom that may take management.”
The White Home dismissed Pritzker’s allegation.
“It’s wonderful the lengths this slob will go to as a way to deflect from the horrible crime disaster that has been plaguing Chicago for years,” White Home spokeswoman Abigail Jackson advised The Submit.
Jackson famous that the town has racked up extra murders than another US metropolis for 13 straight years and that extra unlawful firearms are recovered in Chicago than in New York Metropolis and LA mixed.
Chicago has additionally skilled a spate of violence — with 35 individuals shot over Labor Day weekend, together with 5 killed, as of Saturday afternoon.
Chicago had 573 murders in 2024, in comparison with 377 for New York Metropolis and 268 for Los Angeles. Chicago’s homicide charge was about 22 killings per 100,000 individuals — in contrast with seven for LA and fewer than 5 for NYC.
That’s nonetheless decrease than some main cities — together with Detroit (32), Washington, DC, (27) and Atlanta (25).
“Chicago’s residents could be a lot safer if Pritzker really did his job and addressed his crime drawback as a substitute of making an attempt to be a Resistance Lib hero,” she added.
Pritzker’s unfounded claims come as Trump has strongly hinted that he could quickly deploy the Nationwide Guard to the streets of Chicago, which he has described as a “killing discipline” and a “hellhole.”
Trump referred to as the governor “weak and pathetic” for dismissing the necessity for a Nationwide Guard presence within the Windy Metropolis in a Saturday Fact Social publish.
The president additional warned “we’re coming” – suggesting some form of federal motion on crime in Chicago – if Pritzker doesn’t “straighten it out, FAST.”
Trump’s publish adopted back-to-back bloody weekends in Chicago, which noticed 10 individuals killed by gunfire and scores injured.
“Nationwide Guard troops or any sort of troops on the streets of an American metropolis don’t belong except there’s an rebellion, except there’s actually an emergency – and there’s not,” Pritzker mentioned of the state of affairs in Chicago.
He additionally vowed to sue the Trump administration if troops are certainly deployed.
“It’s an invasion with US troops, in the event that they actually do this,” Pritzker argued.
“They’ll be in court docket fairly shortly,” he added.
Division of Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem argued that Pritzker seems to be extra involved together with his pleasure than addressing crime in Chicago.
“This looks like it’s extra about Pritzker’s ego now slightly than really defending his individuals,” Noem mentioned on “Face the Nation.”
“If he has one homicide within the Metropolis of Chicago, he ought to be calling President Trump and saying, ‘What’s your concepts? What can we do?’” the DHS chief added.
Trump deployed 1000’s of Nationwide Guard troops to Washington, DC, earlier this month as a part of a sweeping crime crackdown.
Because the president declared a criminal offense emergency within the nation’s capital, violent crime has fallen by 45% – and carjackings are down a shocking 87% – in comparison with the identical interval in 2024, DC Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser mentioned earlier this week.
In June, Trump dispatched 4,000 Nationwide Guard troops and 700 Marine service members to California amid violent anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles.
By July 1, almost all the Nationwide Guard members and Marines had been eliminated.
Pritzker did sign that he’s prepared to simply accept some federal help.
“We want [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] brokers to take extra weapons off the streets, we wish FBI to coordinate with our native legislation enforcement to assist catch perpetrators of crimes,” the governor mentioned. “If they’d do this, we’d welcome that.”
“However that’s not what they’re planning on doing.”
The White Home didn’t instantly reply to The Submit’s request for remark.
