I have to hand it to President Donald Trump -- the man knows how to dominate a news cycle.
Trump has been talking about sending help to Chicago to fight crime, a move that has been roundly rejected by the Illinois governor and the city's own mayor.
So, Trump made a huge pivot, suggesting that before any initiatives are launched in Chicago, he may first activate the National Guard to fight crime in a state currently run by a Republican.
Chicago is overrun by criminals right now, with nearly five dozen shootings taking place over the Labor Day weekend, resulting in eight deaths.
Frankly, Mayor Brandon Johnson and Gov. JB Pritzker should be thankful these many of these thugs cannot shoot straight, or the morgue would be running out of space.
To that point, Trump suggested sending in help, stating, “We’re going in. I didn’t say when.” He continued, “I have an obligation. This isn’t a political thing.” Trump also suggested Baltimore as a potential recipient of federal help, a city that was portrayed in The Wire, which you may or may not know was based on real-life characters.
Pritzker and Johnson have both rejected the idea of federal help, but I doubt that will stop Trump if he really wants to make a go of this.
Louisiana is a state with a Republican governor, but much like Texas, most major cities are run by Democrats, and many of them have high crime rates and lots of violent offenses perpetrated against residents.
Trump stunned the media this week, stating, “We’re making a determination now, do we go to Chicago, or do we go to a place like New Orleans, where we have a great governor, [Republican] Jeff Landry, who wants us to come in and straighten out a very nice section of this country that’s become quite tough, quite bad?”
He continued, “So we’re going to be going to, maybe, Louisiana, and you have New Orleans, which has a crime problem. We’ll straighten that out in about two weeks. It will take us two weeks -- easier than D.C.”
I love this move because it is almost identical to what I suggested in a previous report. The only difference was that I stated I would pick a city and state both run by Republicans but struggling with crime, then send in the help to crush the racism narrative that is being pushed by Democrats.
While the governor of Louisiana is a Republican, most of the big city mayors in his state are Democrats, and that, of course, is where all the crime is. And they all pushed back right away on the idea of federal help.
For instance, New Orleans City Council Vice President Helena Moreno responded, “We have had unprecedented reduction in crime and violence in New Orleans. This is an attack on certain cities. There are many cities with mayors aligned with this president whose crime issues are severe, but they’re not targeted.”
Rep. Troy Carter (D-LA) added, "Here in New Orleans, we are committed to protecting the rights of our residents to self-govern and to maintain control over our public safety. We will always welcome true collaboration from our federal partners -- but never at the expense of our Home Rule Charter or the democratic principles we swore to uphold. Militarizing the streets of New Orleans is not a solution. Period.”
Here is the thing… Trump has pretty much had an open invitation for every mayor in this country to ask for federal help, and nobody has. Yet we see violent crimes increasing at staggering rates, and city officials whining when Trump says he will take matters into his own hands. So, again, pick a crime-ridden city with a white, Republican mayor, located in a state that is also led by a member of the GOP, send federal help, and shut this narrative down cold. The Democrats will have no choice but to act.
