Chicago residents are the big losers in Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard to Memphis
Governor JB Pritzker, and Mayor Brandon Johnson may suffer under the delusion they’ve defeated Donald Trump. They may strut in front of the cameras and declare that Chicago has been saved from Trumpzilla because Donald Trump has as of this writing decided not to send the National Guard into Chicago. Instead, he is sending them down I-57 to Memphis — a city that welcomes federal help in fighting its crime wave.
The political spin will be predictable. Pritzker and Johnson will say they stood up to Trump. They will say they defended “local control.” They will claim a victory for Chicago’s sovereignty, as though we were Brussels staring down Napoleon. But here’s the truth: the criminals of Chicago are the only ones who really won this battle.
JB and BJ? Theirs is an illusory triumph, a Pyrrhic victory, at the expense of the law-abiding, tax-paying citizens who are the victims of the triumphant head-stomping murderers, carjackers, and gang bangers who will celebrate by continuing to wreak havoc on this once great city.
Evil has triumphed.
Winners and losers
Trump has decided to help a city that wants help. The people of Memphis are about to get a taste of what Washington, D.C., experienced when the Guard rolled in earlier this year. Since that cleanup, murders in D.C. have plummeted. By contrast, Chicago bleeds. In what should be forever known and live in infamy as the Labor Day massacre, 58 people were shot, eight of them fatally. Yet JB and BJ retain their insulting refrain, “We don’t need any help here, we’ve got it all under control.” You know who really has it all under control? The criminals who really run this city. Would the Guard have stopped that? We’ll never know — because Pritzker and Johnson told us we didn’t need them.
So let’s tally up the winners and losers in this sorry episode:
- Memphis citizens — winners, because they’ll get protection.
- Memphis criminals — losers, because their free rein is over.
- Chicago citizens — losers, because we’ll continue to dodge bullets, avoid downtown after dark, and watch Michigan Avenue die.
- Chicago criminals — winners, because they just got a hall pass. They can keep stomping heads, hijacking grandmothers, and smashing and grabbing their way to riches at our expense.
The bloody headlines
It didn’t take long for criminals to prove Pritzker and Johnson wrong. Just days after Trump’s announcement, Chicago saw another reign of terror.
- At 95th and Halsted, a thug murdered an elderly gentleman by repeatedly stomping his head into the pavement. Then the killer carjacked a grandmother and her granddaughter. Police eventually caught him after a chase and crash, but the message was clear: predators roam free.
- On Michigan Avenue, a robbery of an armored car at Saks 5th Avenue ended only because a security guard fired his weapon in self-defense.
- Also on Michigan Avenue, smash-and-grabbers hit Louis Vuitton, then caused a two-car rollover crash that left yet another innocent victim dead and multiple people injured and shut down what was once the city’s showcase boulevard for hours.
But remember — “we don’t need any help here.” We know that because JB and BJ told us.
Who is the enemy?
Pritzker and Johnson want you to believe that the real threat isn’t the gangbangers with guns. It isn’t the carjackers or the head-stompers. No, the great menace to our safety is the Illinois National Guard.
Think about that. The Guard are our friends, our neighbors, our coworkers. They are the troops who protect us overseas, who rescue us in natural emergencies, who protect us against riots. Yet we are supposed to be afraid of them?
Picture yourself on a Red Line platform. On one end stands a Guardsman in uniform, rifle at the ready. On the other end stands a Latin Kings enforcer with a sawed-off shotgun, tattoos on his face, and a reputation for violence. Which end of the platform are you going to stand on? I know where I’ll be — next to the man who swore an oath to defend the Constitution and who has orders to keep me safe. That’s just common sense.
Who is the enemy of the people? Our National Guard? Our President?
No, JB and BJ, you’re the enemy. You and the criminals you protect.
Lessons from the past
This isn’t theory. Chicago has used the Guard before. Former prosecutor Bob Milan recently told the story. Back when he was the number two under State’s Attorney Dick Devine, the city faced a surge of gang shootings — not unlike today. With cooperation from Springfield, they brought in the Guard.
The strategy was simple and effective: identify the two or three hottest neighborhoods, set perimeters, establish checkpoints, and choke off the gangs’ ability to roam. Wiretaps captured gang members panicking: “5-0 (gang slang for law enforcement) is all over the place. I’m getting out.” Crime dropped. Communities had breathing room.
It worked then. It could work now. But it requires cooperation across all levels of government — federal, state, and city. And in today’s Chicago, cooperation has been replaced by confrontational political theater.
The money angle
Here’s the part that should make every taxpayer’s blood boil: Chicago and Illinois are flat broke. We can’t pay our pensions. We can’t keep the CTA safe. We can’t fund overtime without blowing holes in the budget. City leaders cry poverty every time crime victims demand more patrols in Englewood or Austin (except of course for Mayor 6.6).
And yet when the federal government offers what amounts to a $100 million infusion of resources in the form of National Guard support, our leaders not only refuse — they turn it into a cause célèbre. They posture for cameras. They beat their chests and say: “We stood up to Trump.”
Meanwhile, the victims pile up like cordwood.
Who do they represent?
If all levels of law enforcement — federal, state, local, Guard, and police — worked together, the criminals would be doomed. They know it. That’s why they fear unified crackdowns. But as long as Pritzker and Johnson keep fighting Trump instead of fighting crime, the gangs have nothing to worry about.
And let’s be very clear about who suffers. Not the mayor, who has 150 police guarding his house in Austin. Not the governor, protected by his entourage. It’s ordinary Chicagoans — disproportionately people of color — who make up two-thirds of the city and 80 percent of the victims. They are the ones abandoned for the sake of political ego.
Pritzker and Johnson don’t represent the law-abiding citizens. They represent the criminals, because criminals are the only ones who benefit from this charade.
Common sense
The question isn’t whether the National Guard should permanently police Chicago. The Guard is a tool for crisis. This was to be a much-needed surge like the one in DC. The question is whether leaders who refuse free help just to score political points, deserve to lead.
Pritzker and Johnson tell us the Guard is more dangerous than gangs. They tell us that crime is under control, even as funerals fill the calendar. They tell us that safety is coming, just wait — while they build their careers on our blood.
Common sense tells us something different. It tells us that when your city is bleeding, you use every tool available. You don’t posture. You don’t protect criminals. You protect your citizens.
Stop the bullets and ballots
So who really won? Not you. Not me. Not the families of the eight who died on Labor Day weekend. Not the shopkeepers who board up their stores after yet another smash-and-grab. Not the commuters who hesitate before stepping onto the train platform.
The criminals won. The politicians who defend them won. And unless voters wise up, they’ll keep winning.
But you have a weapon of your own — the ballot box. You can cut through the propaganda. You can ask the only question that matters: Who is keeping me safe? If the answer isn’t Pritzker or Johnson, then it’s time to find leaders who will.
Because the truth is simple. The Guard isn’t the enemy. The gangs are. And the criminals will keep winning — until the people of Chicago decide they’ve had enough.
