Gov attacks Trump's 'slipping mental faculties' and slams Chicago invasion: 'Do not come'
Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) spoke at a news conference on Monday afternoon, telling President Donald Trump not to come to his state and calling him out on using soldiers as political props without even having the courtesy of contacting his office ahead of time to coordinate.
Attacking it as "evil" and "unwanted," Pritzker explained, "No one from the White House or the executive branch has reached out to me or to the mayor. No one has reached out to our staff. No effort has been made to coordinate or to ask for our assistance in identifying any actions that might be helpful to us. Local law enforcement has not been contacted. We have made no requests for federal intervention. None. We found out what Donald Trump was planning the same way that all of you did. We read a story in the Washington Post. If this was really about fighting crime and making the streets safe, what possible justification could the White House have for planning such an exceptional action without any conversations or consultations with the governor, the mayor, or the police?"
Pritzker also compared Chicago to red states, where the violent crime rate is significantly higher.
"Like every major American city in both blue and red states, we deal with crime in Chicago," he said. "Indeed, the violent crime rate is worse in red states and red cities. Here in Chicago, our civilian police force and elected leaders work every day to combat crime and to improve public safety, and it's working. Not one person here today will claim we have solved all crime in Chicago. Nor can that be said of any major American metro area. But calling the military into a U.S. city to invade our streets and neighborhoods and disrupt the lives of everyday people is an extraordinary action, and it should require extraordinary justification."
He cited the statistics that he's most proud of, such as burglaries and robberies have all decreased.
However, he noted, "13 of the top 20 cities in homicide rate have Republican governors. None of these cities is Chicago. Eight of the top 10 states with the highest homicide rates are led by Republicans. None of those states is Illinois. Memphis, Tennessee. Hattiesburg, Mississippi, have higher crime rates than Chicago. And yet Donald Trump is sending troops here and not there. Ask yourself why. If Donald Trump was actually serious about fighting crime in cities like Chicago, he, along with his congressional Republicans, would not be cutting over $800 million in public safety and crime prevention grants nationally, including cutting $158 million in funding to Illinois for violence prevention programs..."
"Do not come to Chicago," Pritzker told the Guard troops. "You're not wanted or needed."
"Your remarks about this effort over the last several weeks have betrayed a continuing slip in your mental faculties, and are not fit for the auspicious office that you occupy," he hammered. "Most alarming, you seem to lack any appropriate concern, as our commander in chief for the members of the military that you would so callously deploy as pawns in your ever more alarming grabs for power."
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