Apparently irate at Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel and egged on by Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly, Donald Trump tweeted a warning to Chicago, a warning to “send in the Feds” if the city isn’t able to end the violence taking place in the inner city:
If Chicago doesn’t fix the horrible “carnage” going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 25, 2017
Yes, on Day 5 of his presidency, Donald Trump threatened to invade Chicago, a city he frequently targeted during his presidential campaign for its violent crime, and as recently as January 2 tweeted, “If Mayor can’t do it he must ask for Federal help!”
Despite this fact, Trump’s threat has something of the knee-jerk reaction to it because just a day before, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel leveled a public criticism of Trump’s ongoing obsession with the size of his inaugural crowd:
“You didn’t get elected to debate the crowd size at your inaugural,” Emanuel said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“You got elected to make sure that people have a job, that the economy continues to grow, people have security as it relates to their kids’ education. It wasn’t about your crowd size. It was about their lives and their jobs.”
The other ingredient seems to have been Bill O’Reilly, stirring things up with a report on crime statistics (Trump’s tweet used those statistics), and asking “can President Trump override local Illinois and Chicago authorities, and stop the murder?”
Just one hour later, Trump was on his smartphone threatening to invade Chicago.
Both Emmanuel and Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson have expressed a desire and a willingness to work with the federal government in curbing gun violence but that doesn’t sound like what either O’Reilly or Trump are suggesting.
Nobody knows precisely what Trump means by “feds” but Trump has taught us to assume the worst, and if Trump really is basing his reaction on O’Reilly, Emmanuel and Eddie Johnson can forget about “working” with the feds. In the O’Reilly plan, the feds “override” local authorities and simply take over. Rather than the DOJ, FBI, DEA and ATF they will get the National Guard.
Independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin, who, unlike Donald Trump, bravely served our country. McMullin was a CIA officer overseas, engaging in on counterterrorism and intelligence operations. His reaction to Trump’s threat deserves notice:
Like any two-bit strongman, @realDonaldTrump will use security challenges, real and imagined, to expand central government control. https://t.co/q8UyOcaymH
— Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) January 25, 2017
Democrats have long warned of Trump’s totalitarian tendencies and there is no reason to suppose that is not exactly what we are seeing here in his threat to send the feds into Chicago. The real warning, however, is not to Chicago, but to any other American city – or state – that arouses Donald Trump’s ire.