Illinois Governor JB Pritzker listens as Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson speaks during a press conference amid reports of federal deployments to Chicago on September 2, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he will deploy National Guard troops to Chicago, calling the Democratic-run midwestern city a "hellhole" ravaged by gun crime. Credit - Kamil Krzacyznski—AFP via Getty President Donald Trumpthreatened Chicagowith his newly-renamed "Department of War" on Saturday, prompting anger from city and state officials who have been preparing for a looming deployment of National Guard troops to the city for weeks. "'I love the smell of deportations in the morning…' Chicago is about to find out why it's called the Department of War,"Trump's post on Truth Social said, accompanied by what appeared to be an AI-generated depiction of himself as Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore from the 1979 Vietnam War filmApocalypse Now. The words "Chipocalypse Now" were emblazoned on the image, and the background showed helicopters flying away from a burning city. Read More:Trump's Crackdown on Chicago Could Start This Weekend, Pritzker Says. Here's How the City Is Preparing to Fight It The post prompted anger from state and city officials. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker called Trump a "wannabe dictator" and took the post as a threat to "go to war" with Chicago. "The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city," Pritzkerwrote on X. "This is not a joke. This is not normal." "Donald Trump isn't a strongman, he's a scared man. Illinois won't be intimidated by a wannabe dictator," he added. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson accused Trump of "authoritarianism." "The President's threats are beneath the honor of our nation, but the reality is that he wants to occupy our city and break our Constitution,"he wrote on X. The post follows Trump's Fridayexecutive orderthat rebranded the Department of Defense as the Department of War, a move the president claimed sent "a message of strength." Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said during the press conference Friday that the name indicates the department is "going to go on offense, not just on defense. Maximum lethality, not tepid legality. Violent effect, not politically correct." Read More:Trump Signs Executive Order Rebranding Department of Defense as the 'Department of War' Trump's threats against Chicago follow his decision tofederalizeD.C.'s police department and deploy National Guard troops on the streets on Aug. 11, citing violent crime—even though data showed that violent crime in the nation's capital had already beendeclining significantly. Since then, the President has threatened similar deployments in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Baltimore, and Oakland. Johnson and Pritzker have both been staunchly opposed to Trump'sthreats of federal intervention. Last weekend, Johnsonsigned an executive orderdirecting the city's police force not to cooperate with federal agents in a potential crackdown on crime and immigration. "We will protect our constitution. We will protect our city. And we will protect our people. We do not want to see tanks in our streets. We do not want to see families ripped apart," Johnson said as he announced his executive order. Pritzker has said that he will "absolutely" sue Trump and the federal government if he actually does deploy troops, adding to the multiple lawsuits already filed by Chicago against the President since his return to office in January. Contact usatletters@time.com.
