This battle between the state of Illinois and the Trump administration just got turned up a few notches.
After ICE agents were attacked and local law enforcement refused to help, Donald Trump appears to have lost his patience, giving the governor of Illinois an ultimatum to either call up his troops or see the president federalize the city of Chicago.
Then things took a bizarre twist, as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott authorized his National Guard troops to operate in another state, with Trump reportedly planning on taking advantage of the offer.
After Trump gave Pritzker the ultimatum, he went public to try to get voter sentiment on his side.
Pritzker announced, “This morning, the Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will.”
He then added, “It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.”
I have said all along, this is a dangerous tactic from Trump in terms of how it will be perceived, and Democrats are really pushing the narrative that the president is trying to physically take over Democrat states and cities against their will.
Since these blue states are refusing to activate their National Guard to provide cover for ICE agents, Abbott offered his troops to Trump.
Abbott stated, “You can either fully enforce protection for federal employees or get out of the way and let Texas Guard do it.”
Now, Trump has seen resistance in both Oregon and Illinois on this front, so there was a question of whether he would split the troops or work on one state at a time.
Those questions were answered rather quickly when Pritzker ran to social media to make his case.
Pritzker, needless to say, was not happy about Abbott offering his help, writing, “It started with federal agents, it will soon include deploying federalized members of the Illinois National Guard against our wishes, and it will not involve sending in another state’s military troops.”
He continued, “I call on [Texas] Governor [Greg] Abbott to immediately withdraw any support for this decision and refuse to coordinate.”
Now, as I have stated earlier, this is a dangerous tactic on Trump's part, and it now seems clear how Democrats are going to frame this in a potentially detrimental way. In an earlier statement, Pritzker called the scenario “Trump’s invasion,” and the media is already picking up on that theme.
I don’t like the idea of sending in Guard troops from another state solely due to how it will almost certainly be perceived. This is a tough one for me because these agents need to be protected, but at the same time, the optics on this are horrible, and Democrats are going to exploit that to the Nth degree in a key election year. I just see this as a no-win situation, but I think bringing in troops from another state will backfire in terms of how it will influence voters when they head to the polls.
