I’ll reserve judgment on President Trump’s deploying the National Guard to Chicago. Here’s Michelle Price’s report from ABC 7 Chicago:
CHICAGO — President Donald Trump on Friday said Chicago will likely be the next target of his efforts to crack down on crime, homelessness and illegal immigration.
Trump indicated that the Midwestern city could receive similar treatment to what he’s done in Washington, D.C., where he’s deployed 2,000 troops on the streets.
“I think Chicago will be our next,” Trump told reporters at the White House, later adding, “And then we’ll help with New York.”
The comments came as the Pentagon on Friday began ordering troops in Washington to carry firearms, though there have been no overt indications they have faced threats that would require them to carry weapons.
Trump has repeatedly described some of the nation’s largest cities – run by Democrats, with Black mayors and majority-minority populations – as dangerous and filthy.
My immediate reaction is that it’s a mistake. Start with the legality.
IMO use of the National Guard in Washington, DC is tenuous but defensible (just barely). I don’t think it’s nearly as defensible in Chicago.
High as Chicago’s crime rate is, Washington, DC’s crime rate is much higher.
Washington, DC is much more densely populated than Chicago. Chicago is four times the size of Washington, DC in area (225 sq. mi. vs. 61 sq. mi.).
Where does he plan to deploy the Guard? Much of the crime in Chicago is concentrated on what we call the South Side and the West Side (particularly the Englewood, Grand Crossing, South Shore, Austin, Humboldt Park, and Garfield Park neighborhoods). And, unlike in Washington, DC, those neighborhoods are pretty far from the more tourist-y areas, e.g. the Loop, the Magnificent Mile.
So, does he plan to deploy the Guard in the Loop and Mag Mile where they’d be more visible? Or in the Englewood or Austin neighborhoods where they’d do more good?
As I say, it sounds like a mistake to me. And then there’s a paraphrase of that line from Casablanca. There are certain sections of the South Side I wouldn’t advise him to deploy the National Guard in.
The fact that governance in the US has collapsed so far as to require military intervention in local affairs is far more disturbing than the legalities.
As my favorite poet Yeats put it:
“Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;”
Does anyone seriously think that the US can survive another generation as an intact state?
What special policing skills, if any do the National Guard have? None, unless they are actually police in their regular work life. I someone less likely to commit a crime while some National Guard are on their block? Probably. Would that be better than having police on that block? Doubtful. Can we afford to have police or National Guard on every block? No.
This is just security theater with Trump catering to his base. Crime will probably go down for a while. (Police states are able to cut down on crime, at least crime committed by regular people and not the politically affiliated.) Then someone will realize we cant afford to keep that many troops there forever and they will leave. Someone will suggest they need more police but that would require a tax increase and no one wants that. Crime will rise.
Also of note, they fired the head of military intelligence. His report on the damage from the bombings in Iran were not what Trump wanted to hear. Seems to be a pattern. If you say something Trump doesnt like, you get fired. Goal seems to be to have only people in the government, including the military, who say things Trump wants to hear.
Steve